Five Things Learned: Manchester City 3-0 Brentford (Premier League) | OneFootball

Manchester City closed the gap on Premier League leaders Arsenal to two points with a much-needed victory over Brentford on Saturday evening.

This was the first match for Pep Guardiola‘s side since the dramatic late draw away to Everton on Monday, where the players saw their title hopes take a severe dent. City responded well on Saturday, coming fast out of the blocks at the City in the Community Etihad Stadium with a high tempo right from the start.

Despite this, Brentford found themselves getting chances and a fraught affair arrived at the break goalless. City came out swinging in the second half, and this time the pressure paid off with Jeremy Doku scoring his third goal of the week with yet another curling stunner.

The hosts continued with the same intensity and found themselves doubling the lead after a scramble in the box, being back-heeled in by Erling Haaland. Substitute Omar Marmoush added a third in stoppage-time after a cutting through ball from his Norwegian strike partner.

Here are five things we learned from Manchester City‘s valuable win over Brentford.

1. Over to you, Arsenal

After Monday’s crushing falter away to Everton, Manchester City responded in the right way by grinding out a battling win. Brentford have been in brilliant form this season and represented a tough challenge on paper, which transpired on the pitch, leaving Pep Guardiola’s side frustrated.

Yet faced with adversity, City once again rose to the challenge, and the team has now been hurled back into the Premier League title race thanks to some fabulous individual efforts. The pressure now shifts onto league leaders Arsenal, who travel to relegation-threatened West Ham on Sunday with both sides desperate for the points.

Winning their own matches is as much as City can do at this point, and if it is meant to be, the eight-time Premier League champions will get the slice of luck they need elsewhere.

Put simply, job done and roll on Wednesday night.

2. Jeremy Doku is HIM

Even before the goal, I was penning that Doku had not only been Manchester City’s best player against Brentford, but at times, their only one. For large parts of Saturday’s match, the home side looked nervous and off it, much to the crowd’s dismay, given the importance of each and every game remaining this season.

One man who did not receive that rather lacklustre memo was Doku, who, like in Monday’s battle with Everton, once again looked stupendous. The intensity and talent that the Belgian winger brings to each game are keeping City in the Premier League title race single-handedly at this point.

His confidence to take chances, along with the quality to back it up, has proved the difference between dropping points and rescuing them in both matches this week. When he first arrived in England, Doku was criticised for his apparent lack of final product. It’s safe to say he’s well and truly found it.

3. City can’t take corners

How poetic it is that one team is in the title race because of their set-piece prowess, and their opponents are flagging in said race because of their lack of it. This isn’t something entirely new; Manchester City have been bad at corners for several seasons now, but the current campaign has been particularly disappointing.

Given the volume of corners that Pep Guardiola’s side are getting each game, the conversion into goals or even clear chances is unbelievably poor. I thought City would notice this and target it in the weeks between matches, but these previous few matches have only acted to highlight the problem further.

Against Brentford, the home side found themselves having a lion’s share of corners but consistently spurned any kind of attacking impetus which they could have produced. Should the Blues come up short later this month, it will be safe to say that set pieces have been paramount in deciding the Premier League champions.

4. Reijnders well off it

I don’t tend to single out players for criticism in these analysis pieces, but I will have to make an unwanted exception today. Like many other of the Manchester City faithful, I was elated to see the club snap up Tijjani Reijnders from AC Milan in the summer.

I was even more stoked after his Player of the Match debut versus Wolves in August 2025, but the Dutchman’s form has been on-and-off ever since. Sadly, all too often, Reijnders looks somewhat out of place beside his teammates and off the tempo, and Saturday was no different, leading to an early exit in the second half.

His knack for shooting in poor positions, which often results in a block from an opponent, has also been a frustrating caveat to his game minutes. For City to claim the title, the squad needs to be performing at a high level so that it is not massively noticeable when a usual starter is replaced by a player usually on the bench.

5. Haaland wins Golden Boot clash

The Premier League title race may be the much-heated contest on everyone’s lips, but there is still the smaller matter of the Golden Boot to be decided, too. Arsenal don’t have a horse in the race but Haaland was leading the way with 25 goals this campaign heading into Saturday’s match.

His nearest rival in the table is Brentford’s Igor Thiago with an impressive 22 and the two frontmen took to the pitch looking to add more. It was Haaland who had the better evening as he notched a 26th goal of the season, while his Brazilian opposite spurned the chances that fell to him.

The Norwegian is finding some regularity once again, and that could just be the final push that his side needs to win the title race, alongside a third Golden Boot for the striker.