Man City with successive wins in Premier League, Arsenal and Chelsea drop points

Erling Haaland and English Premier League football club Manchester City might just be turning the corner after the team's worst run of results under Pep Guardiola.

Haaland scored twice in a 4-1 win over West Ham on Saturday as City secured back-to-back victories in the competition for the first time since late October, when a shocking and unthinkable six-week meltdown began.

In that time, the defending champions played nine league games and won just once, dropping them out of the Champions League qualification spots and raising questions about Guardiola's stomach for a rebuild.

City stayed in sixth place in the league. 

But City can now hope for better times ahead — especially after making up ground on second-placed Arsenal and fourth-placed Chelsea after they both dropped points in draws at Brighton and Crystal Palace, respectively, on Saturday.

Still, Guardiola wasn't getting carried away. “I'm very pleased for the result," he said, “but you cannot ask me if the old City is back. If you saw the game, we are not.”

However, while the 2-0 win at Leicester last weekend was unconvincing, there were better signs against West Ham — at least in attack with Haaland looking sharp.

The Norway striker headed in Savinho's cross to make it 2-0 in the 42nd minute and chipped the goalkeeper for 3-0 in the 55th after running onto another pass from Savinho.

Either side, there was an own-goal and a strike from Phil Foden before Niclas Fullkrug pulled one back for West Ham. “We are still not like we were, for different reasons,” Guardiola said. "The result will help. We struggle but it is a release.”

It was a good day for Liverpool — and the league leader didn't even play.

Arsenal was held to 1-1 at Brighton, which equalised from the penalty spot through Joao Pedro, and missed the chance to trim the gap to Liverpool to five points.

Ethan Nwaneri put Arsenal ahead and, at age 17, became only the sixth player under 18 to score multiple Premier League goals.

Chelsea's winless run in the league extended to four matches after drawing at Palace 1-1.

Chelsea have drawn twice and lost twice since December 22, damaging a title bid that had been picking up some steam — even if manager Enzo Maresca never accepted his team was a realistic challenger.

Liverpool lead Arsenal by five points and Chelsea by nine, and has two games in hand over both rivals. The first comes at home to Manchester United on Sunday.

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