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This video can not be played Haaland goal gives Guardiola 250th Premier League victory At a glance Erling Haaland slots past Caoimhin Kelleher for opener Rodri goes off injured in 21st minute Igor Thiago has Brentford's best chance in scrappy second half PLAYER RATER Erling Haaland continued his prolific form as Manchester City battled to a narrow victory over Brentford and gave boss Pep Guardiola his 250th Premier League win. Guardiola is the quickest manager to reach the milestone having done so in just 349 games - 55 games quicker than anyone else. Haaland outmuscled Sepp van den Berg to gather Josko Gvardiol's looping cross, then wriggled away from the defender before precisely slotting past Caoimhin Kelleher. It is the Norwegian striker's third goal this week and his 18th in 11 games for club and country this season. City had to hold on to their slim lead at the Gtech Community Stadium for more than 80 minutes but limited Brentford to few opportunities, despite the game opening up somewhat in a scrappy second half. Victory moves City up to fifth before the international break, but there was concern for midfielder Rodri when he hobbled off with injury after just 21 minutes. The Spaniard missed much of last season with an anterior cruciate ligament injury and is yet to return to the form that won him the Ballon d'Or last year. Have your say on Brentford's performance What did you make of Man City's display? Victory against Manchester United last time out was a welcome result for the Bees who had earned just four points from their first five games. Despite a somewhat disappointing start to the campaign, Brentford had not yet lost at home this season. Under Thomas Frank, Brentford were often a problem team for Guardiola and were the only side to do the double over City in the Treble-winning campaign two years ago. New Bees boss Keith Andrews, in his first managerial role, opted for a back five on Sunday with Kristoffer Ajer coming in for Dango Ouattara - and it left them starved of opportunities in the first 45 minutes. For the first time in their 159 Premier League games, Brentford failed to record a single touch in their opponents' penalty area in the first half. The game opened up more after the break, with Michael Kayode heading over the bar while Brentford limited City to just one shot in a flat but scrappy second half. The hosts' best chance came when Igor Thiago, who has scored five goals this season, found himself one on one with Gianluigi Donnarumma but the Italian keeper saved well. Defeat leaves Brentford 16th in the table with two wins from seven matches. City knew they would claim ground on title rivals Liverpool - who lost again on Saturday - with a win and remain in touch with leaders Arsenal. Three wins in their past four matches keeps Guardiola's side firmly in the mix after two defeats in August - but he will still want City to punish their opponents when they are on top. For all their dominance in possession, City could not find a second goal to put the game to bed and were at risk of once again suffering a late result-altering goal - as they did against Brighton and Arsenal in the league and Monaco earlier this week in the Champions League. Tijjani Reijnders forced Kelleher into a good diving save when he struck well on the volley while Phil Foden dragged wide after some quick feet from Oscar Bobb, but they failed to build on that with no shots on target in the second half. Guardiola will, however, be pleased his side were able to hold on in what felt a real slog. The potential loss of Rodri is perhaps more of a concern for City, who know all too well how difficult life can be without him. It is no coincidence that City's worst season under Guardiola came last year when Rodri was out with an ACL injury. However, since his return the Spaniard has struggled to get going with sporadic appearances and several further knocks. This latest setback will create questions over whether Rodri will be able to hit the same heights he did in 2023-24, having featured just 15 times since then. He missed last week's match against Burnley because of knee pain. Nico Gonzalez has deputised well at times but has not reached the level of City's talismanic midfielder at his best. Following the international break, Brentford travel to West Ham on Monday, 20 October in the Premier League (20: 00 BST kick-off). Manchester City will face Everton at Etihad Stadium on Saturday, 18 October (15: 00). After the opportunity to rate players has closed, the score displayed represents the average from all the submissions by BBC Sport users. Comments can not be loaded To load Comments you need to enable Java Script in your browser Last Updated 5th October 2025 at 18: 24 Please Note: All times UK. Tables are subject to change. The BBC is not responsible for any changes that may be made. Manager: Keith Andrews Formation: 5 - 3 - 2 Manager: Pep Guardiola Formation: 4 - 1 - 4 - 1 Manager: Keith Andrews Formation: 5 - 3 - 2 Manager: Pep Guardiola Formation: 4 - 1 - 4 - 1 Premier League All competitions All competitions All competitions Since completing a Premier League double over Manchester City in 2022-23, Brentford are winless in their last four against the Citizens in the division (D1 L3). Manchester City have only lost one of their four Premier League visits to Brentford (W2 D1), going down 1-0 on the final day of the 2022-23 season. Brentford won 3-1 against Manchester United last time out. The only team to face both Manchester clubs in consecutive Premier League games and win them both are Tottenham Hotspur in January 1996 (4-1 v Man Utd, 1-0 v Man City). Brentford have won four of their last six Premier League home games (D1 L1), scoring at least twice in five of those matches. This comes after an eight game winless run at Gtech Community Stadium, a run in which they failed to score on five occasions. Manchester City are the only side to have spent more than half of their game time in a winning position in the Premier League this season (55. 3%). The Citizens have spent over two hours in the lead in their last two away league games, but have failed to win either match (D1 L1). Manchester City (18. 4%) and Brentford (17. 7%) have the two highest shot conversion rates in the Premier League this season. Indeed, the Bees have had the joint-fewest shots so far this term (51), but rank joint-sixth for goals scored (9). Both Brentford and Manchester City lead the way in goals from fast breaks in the Premier League this season (3 each), with two of the Bees’ coming against Manchester United in their last match. Pep Guardiola has won 249 of his 348 Premier League matches as Man City manager (D50 L49). The Spaniard could become the 16th manager to win 250 top-flight games with a single club and would reach that total in only 349 games – 74 games quicker than anyone else has managed (Arsene Wenger at Arsenal, 423 games). Brentford’s Igor Thiago has scored five goals from six shots on target in all competitions this season. Meanwhile, in the Premier League the Brazilian has the highest shot conversion rate of any player to have 10+ shots this term (40% - 4 goals from 10 shots). Two of the three players to apply the most high-intensity pressures to opponents in the Premier League this season are Brentford’s Igor Thiago (354) and Yehor Yarmoliuk (340). Thiago ranks first for this metric in the opposition half (234), while Yarmoliuk is top in his own half of the pitch (244). Man City’s Phil Foden has only scored more Premier League goals against Brighton (8) than he has against Brentford (7), with six of his seven goals against the Bees coming at the Gtech Community Stadium. Attempt blocked. Oscar Bobb (Manchester City) left footed shot from the right side of the box is blocked. Assisted by Phil Foden. Foul by Nico González (Manchester City). Jordan Henderson (Brentford) wins a free kick in the attacking half. Oscar Bobb (Manchester City) wins a free kick in the defensive half. Foul by Aaron Hickey (Brentford). Attempt saved. Igor Thiago (Brentford) right footed shot from the centre of the box is saved in the centre of the goal by Gianluigi Donnarumma (Manchester City). Second Half begins Brentford 0, Manchester City 1. First Half ends, Brentford 0, Manchester City 1. Kevin Schade (Brentford) is shown the yellow card. Foul by Rúben Dias (Manchester City). Kevin Schade (Brentford) wins a free kick in the attacking half. Fourth official has announced 2 minutes of added time. Rúben Dias (Manchester City) wins a free kick in the defensive half. Foul by Yehor Yarmoliuk (Brentford). Attempt saved. Tijjani Reijnders (Manchester City) right footed shot from the centre of the box is saved in the top centre of the goal by Caoimhín Kelleher (Brentford). Assisted by Nico O'Reilly with a cross. Corner, Manchester City. Conceded by Michael Kayode. Attempt blocked. Igor Thiago (Brentford) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked. Assisted by Jordan Henderson. Attempt missed. Phil Foden (Manchester City) right footed shot from the right side of the box misses to the left. Assisted by Oscar Bobb. Foul by Phil Foden (Manchester City). Mikkel Damsgaard (Brentford) wins a free kick in the defensive half. Copyright © 2025 BBC. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking.