Man City: Pep Guardiola issues ominous Erling Haaland warning ahead of Arsenal showdown | OneFootball

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Pep Guardiola says Erling Haaland is better now than in Manchester City's treble-winning season, sending out an ominous warning to the rest of the Premier League.

The Norway international scored his first of the afternoon in the 53rd minute when he latched on to Jeremy Doku's pass, held off Luke Shaw's challenge and chipped the ball over Man Utd goalkeeper Altay Bayindir.

After surprisingly spurning big chance, Haaland did get his second in the 68th minute when he out-sprinted Harry Maguire to Bernardo Silva's ball over the top and got the better of Bayindir in another one-on-one duel.

That made it seven goals in a week for the striker as he bagged FIVE on Tuesday when Norway thumped Moldova 11-1 in a World Cup qualifier.

Guardiola, speaking after the game, heaped praise on Haaland and claimed the centre-forward is performing at a greater level than three years ago.

The Spaniard said: "Erling has been incredible since the start but this season he is better than ever. I would say better than the Treble year.

“He's dynamic and I don't judge him for the clearance, we want him to score goals and to help us."

Big praise: Erling Haaland

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In Man City’s Treble year, Haaland netted an astonishing 52 goals in 53 appearances across all competitions as Guardiola’s side won the Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup.

36 of which came in the English top-flight as Haaland broke the Premier League record for most goals scored by a player in one season.

For Guardiola to claim the 25-year-old is performing better now than the 2022-2023 campaign is ominous for the rest of division, particularly Arsenal who come up against Haaland next weekend.