Antoine Semenyo brushed aside fresh talk that Erling Haaland’s game is not balanced enough, calling the Manchester City forward a major problem for defenders and backing him to go down as one of the Premier League’s greatest strikers.
Semenyo said Haaland forces teams to commit as many as three players to him, and still finds a way to hurt them. He pointed to the Norwegian’s pace, size and finishing, saying he is essentially the complete striker and will be among the finest the league has ever seen.
The praise comes with Haaland already level on the 22-goal Premier League haul that won him last season’s Golden Boot, underlining why he remains central to City’s title push. Semenyo, who joined City from Bournemouth in January, said Haaland’s influence goes far beyond scoring, stressing that his hold-up play and his ability to bring others into attacks are massively important to the team.
“He’s a big problem,” Semenyo said, adding that when opponents mark him it is often “like three people” on one man. He also said Haaland’s output was “a scandal,” recalling a season in which he scored 41 goals, before saying that the striker’s work for the side is not always fully appreciated.
City were due to host Arsenal on Sunday with the chance to cut the gap at the top to three points while still having a game in hand. The timing mattered because City had won only one of their previous five matches, even as Arsenal had slipped.
Semenyo said City were in better rhythm now, describing their recent run as good and saying they were probably playing their best football in the second half of the season. That made the Arsenal meeting, in his view, a useful moment to press their advantage. “It’s a good time to play them,” he said.
What happens next is straightforward enough: City will try to turn Semenyo’s form and Haaland’s finishing into a result that pulls them back into the title fight, while Arsenal arrive carrying the pressure of a lead that is no longer as comfortable as it was.