Alan Shearer makes ‘unusual’ Erling Haaland claim after Man City suffer Wolves defeat

Alan Shearer has claimed it is “unusual” to have seen Erling Haaland so quiet in Manchester City ’s defeat at Wolves.

The Sky Blues suffered their first defeat of the campaign — their first dropped points in the league of any kind, actually — when they fell 2-1 at Molineaux Stadium to the home side.

After six wins from six to start the defence of their Premier League title, a Ruben Dias own goal and Hwang Hee-chan strike earned Wolves a first home win of the league campaign and handed City a first loss.

Haaland – still currently the Premier League’s top scorer with eight strikes – struggled to have an impact. The Norwegian hitman had just one shot throughout the 90 minutes. Following the result, Shearer has claimed it was a foreign feeling seeing Haaland involved so little.

Speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live, he said: “Although Man City had a lot of possession, efforts on goal, pressure, Wolves didn’t half defend well. They showed a great attitude again, got a bit of look with the deflection for the first goal, had one shot on target the whole game which produced the second goal.

“Haaland was kept quiet which is unusual, Dawson did a great job on him. The result wasn’t a fluke, they worked very hard for it and got the reward.”

The result leaves Man City still top of the Premier League but with only a one-point buffer between themselves and Arsenal. Pep Guardiola has claimed that his side struggled with imposing their attacking style on Wolves, who he roundly praised.

“Congratulations Wolves, they defend really well,” the Spaniard said. “We struggled to make our build-up, our process, our movements.

“We had chances and struggled to control the transitions because they are really good and they defend really well. We were there and settled well and the question is when the opponent is faster and quicker, we have to accept it.”

Man City will be hoping they and Haaland recover their respective form sooner rather than later. Their defeat to Wolves – coupled with their Carabao Cup reverse at the hands of Newcastle – makes it two losses in a row, Haaland scoring in neither.

City have not lost three consecutive games in all competitions under Guardiola since April 2018. They will hope to get themselves back on track on Wednesday as they tackle German side RB Leipzig in their second Champions League group game of the season.