Pep Guardiola praises two-goal scorer Erling Haaland's leadership qualities in Man City win at Crystal Palace

Another day, another pair of goals for Erling Haaland.

The Norwegian superstar scored the first and last of Manchester City's goals as the team overpowered Crystal Palace 3-0 at Selhurst Park on Sunday, keeping City within two points of Premier League leaders Arsenal. Phil Foden scored the other goal for the Sky Blues.

And while seeing Haaland's name on the scoresheet for Pep Guardiola's side is hardly groundbreaking stuff given his prolific body of work, the 25-year-old earned praise from his manager for also doing a lot of the things that don't show up in the statistics.

Guardiola acknowledged that Palace were challenging hosts despite the lopsided scoreline, and he nodded towards Haaland as a reason for City eventually taking control of the match.

"It is a really tough place to come," Guardiola told Sky Sports immediately after the match. "When you lose the ball they attack incredibly well but we were patient. We were lucky when they hit the post from [Adam] Wharton but really pleased for the performance and victory to grow our mentality.

"Erling is a forward to score the goals but in the second half he keeps the ball. He was able to contain situations. He helped us be together. In the second half he was outstanding."

Guardiola felt that the team as a whole were much improved in the second half, stemming from Haaland's first goal just prior to halftime. 

His players calmed down after taking the lead and settled into the match when coming out of the changing room for the final 45 minutes, the manager said.

"In the first half we were too much in a rush," Guardiola explained. "We talked about the spaces we should attack but we were not patient enough. After we played with the tempo we should."

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