Three goals in the second half earned Manchester City a much-needed three points on Saturday. Re-live this Premier League game with our Man City vs Brentford stats page.
Manchester City kept the heat on leaders Arsenal in the Premier League title race with a hard-fought 3-0 win over Brentford on Saturday.
After a nervy first half at the Etihad Stadium, goals in the second from Jérémy Doku, Erling Haaland and Omar Marmoush gave Pep Guardiola’s men a much-needed three points.
Following their dramatic 3-3 draw at Everton on Monday that handed the initiative in the title race to the Gunners, City really had to win this one to keep the pressure on Mikel Arteta’s men.
The victory leaves City two points behind Arsenal, who face West Ham at London Stadium on Sunday.
Brentford made a good start and were the first to come close to opening the scoring. A long throw from the right caused chaos, with Gianluigi Donnarumma making a mess of his punch, but City were able to scramble it away before the visitors could take advantage.
Doku looked the likeliest to create at the other end, and in the 20th minute, the winger sent an inswinging cross from the left in towards Haaland, but the striker got his header all wrong and sent it high and wide.
Haaland had another chance five minutes later when Antoine Semenyo found some room on the right to dink a cross in, but this time his header was straight at Caoimhín Kelleher.
City had 15 shots in the first half, but Brentford looked relatively comfortable heading into half-time as their tight defensive shape had largely kept the hosts to half chances.
Rayan Cherki dragged a shot just wide of the left-hand post early in the second half, but as City toiled at one end, they began to look open at the other as Igor Thiago forced a save from Donnarumma on the counter attack.
City needed inspiration, and it wasn’t much surprise that when it came on the hour mark, it was from their two-goal hero from Monday.
Doku received a short corner from the left and tried to play a ball inside, only for it to break back to him. He collected it and curled a sublime finish into the far corner of the net to send the relieved home fans into raptures.
It was the first time Doku had scored in back-to-back Premier League games, in his 85th appearance in the competition. The Belgian also scored in three consecutive games for City in all competitions for the first time.
City suddenly looked more comfortable and could have doubled their lead when substitute Phil Foden found himself in space in the box, but his low shot was saved well by Kelleher.
They had to wait until the 75th minute to find that second, and it wasn’t the prettiest goal ever, not that Guardiola will have cared. Semenyo dribbled at Brentford down the right and put a low cross into the middle of the penalty area. After a couple of deflections, the ball eventually rolled into the net off the leg of Haaland, who ran away claiming his 26th league goal of the season.
Kelleher made a brilliant save from Foden with eight minutes remaining, but Marmoush did make it three in stoppage time when Haaland played him in down the right of the penalty area, before the Egyptian fired low into the left corner of the net. It was the first Premier League goal scored by a City substitute since Cherki on the opening day at Wolves.
That rounded things off for a jubilant City, who now turn their focus to their game in hand against Crystal Palace on Wednesday, while also hoping for a favour from West Ham on Sunday.
Our Opta match centre delivers you all the Man City vs Brentford stats from their Premier League meeting at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday 9 May 2026.
The match centre below includes team and player stats, expected goals data, passing networks, an Opta chalkboard and more. It gives you everything you need to do your own match analysis.
Underneath the match centre you can find the official Opta stats on the game as well.
Man City vs Brentford: Selected Post-Match Facts
- Manchester City have extended their unbeaten run to 13 games in the Premier League (W9 D4), while the Citizens have scored 3+ goals in more games than any other side this term (14).
- Brentford have won just one of their last eight Premier League games (D5 L2) and are winless in their last four away from home (D2 L2), failing to score in three of those.
- Doku became just the third player to record 6+ chances created and complete 6+ dribbles in a Premier League game this season after Bukayo Saka v Fulham in October and Elliot Anderson v Brighton and Hove Albion in November.
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