Erling Haaland Responds To Manchester City’s Premier League Title Race Struggles

Erling Haaland has said it’s impossible for Manchester City to win the Premier League every season, and that the players must now focus on securing qualification for next season’s Champions League.

Having won six of the last seven Premier League titles, City entered the 2024/25 campaign as strong favorites to secure a record-extending fifth consecutive championship.

However, a series of uncharacteristic performances, marked by numerous errors and a tendency to falter under pressure, have led City to drop out of the Premier League title race.

As things stand, they have also fallen out of the top four.

Liverpool are staggering 21 points clear ahead of Pep Guardiola’s charges, who are battling Nottingham Forest, Chelsea, Newcastle United, Brighton & Hove Albion, Fulham, Aston Villa and potentially even Bournemouth for a spot in next season’s Champions League.

Haaland, speaking while away on international duty with Norway, has said that’s just how things sometimes go, with City now needing to effectively control the controllable.

“That’s how it is sometimes,” the 24-year-old said. “It’s been different when you’ve won the Premier League both years and not been in the title race. But you can’t win every year.

“Now it’s about securing a Champions League place, and do something you can do something about: Win the FA Cup.”

City still faces 115 charges of alleged financial breaches, but the threat of expulsion from the Premier League didn’t stop Haaland from signing an extraordinary new nine-and-a-half-year contract in January.

This deal ties him to the Etihad Stadium until 2034.

And he unsurprisingly revealed that he’s not concerned about City receiving a huge punishment, having spoken to the club to get guarantees before putting pen to paper.

“I don’t do that [worry about the charges] when I sign a 9½-year contract,” he said.

“I’ve said 300 times why I signed the contract. I talked to the club, got a good feeling, and agreed to it in the end. That’s why.”