Manchester City finished the weekend fifth in the Premier League table following Sunday’s 1–0 win over Brentford, marking Pep Guardiola’s 250th win in England’s top flight since arriving in 2016.
Erling Haaland’s early goal decided the contest. Coming into the game, the Gtech Community Stadium was one of only two Premier League grounds that Haaland had played at without scoring—Anfield the other.
Joško Gvardiol’s long ball forward turned the Brentford centre backs towards their own goal, with Haaland latching onto and bulldozing his way through via strength, pace and clever feet. The left-footed finish was as clinical as you’d expect from someone on 11 goals in eight games so far this season prior to kick-off.
Brentford, for having been two goals ahead in 20 minutes against Manchester United a week ago, could barely lay a glove on City, who had to deal with losing Rodri to injury early on—the 2024 Ballon d’Or winner had a grave look on his face that hints at another frustrating setback.
Phil Foden and Oscar Bobb combined well in pockets towards City’s right flank, and the former would have been disappointed at dragging a shot wide from a good position half an hour in. The visitors were later denied what should have been a certain second goal soon after, as Caoimhín Kelleher’s strong reflex save stopped Tijjani Reijnders at the far post.
Is it possible that Erling Haaland is actually better this season than he already has been for Manchester City? pic.twitter.com/A8eBDKbsKb
— Sports Illustrated FC (@SI_FootballClub) October 5, 2025
Brentford began the second half with a vigour that had been missing, and it took an alert one-on-one save from Gianluigi Donnarumma to stop Igor Thiago from grabbing a quickfire equaliser.
But that resurgence and spell of pressure failed to deliver anything beyond a few efforts that were either blocked or missed the target.
City’s chance creation virtually disappeared from the dominant first half, yet there was rarely any sense of real jeopardy for Pep Guardiola’s side, despite the slender nature of the lead. Donnarumma’s heart was in his mouth at the very end when Kevin Schade charged down an attempted clearance, but the rebounding ball didn’t trouble the goal.
Man City player ratings below.
Man City Player Ratings vs. Brentford
Subs not used: James Trafford (GK), John Stones, Nathan Aké, Rico Lewis, Mateo Kovačić, Rayan Cherki.
Player of the Match: Joško Gvardiol
Brentford (5-3-2): Caoimhín Kelleher; Michael Kayode, Kristoffer Ajer, Sepp van den Berg, Nathan Collins (c), Aaron Hickey; Yehor Yarmolyuk, Jordan Henderson, Mikel Damsgaard; Igor Thiago, Kevin Schade.
Subs: Fábio Carvalho, Frank Onyeka, Mathias Jensen, Vitaly Janelt, Dango Ouattara.
READ THE LATEST PREMIER LEAGUE NEWS, TRANSFER RUMOURS AND GOSSIP
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Man City Player Ratings vs. Brentford: Guardiola Reaches Major Milestone in 1–0 Victory.
