Haaland, the Premier League player of the month, had netted hat-tricks in his prior two appearances but had to settle for just the two goals at Etihad Stadium, moving to 99 in City colours in all competitions.

Yoane Wissa had stunned City in the first minute after capitalising on a defensive mix-up, but Haaland was not kept quiet for long.

City’s master marksman had Pep Guardiola’s side back on terms in the 19th minute, before scoring what proved to be the winner before half-time.

Haaland came close to completing another treble and bringing up his City ton, but the defending champion had to survive a nervy finish to preserve the Premier League’s only 100 per cent record at the top of the table, with Brentford back in seventh place.

Guardiola said he preferred City's win over Brentford as opposed to a more comfortable scoreline, confirming he is also a big fan of Bees head coach Thomas Frank.

"I am a big fan of Thomas Frank. I don't remember in eight or nine years having a team playing the way they played," Guardiola said.

"We were lucky with the deflection because they deserved 1-0.

"We struggled a lot to read when to shoot and press. We were lucky to find the goals, but in the second half we were better and probably deserved to score more goals.

"We needed that to feel how difficult everything is, how difficult the Premier League is every game.

"People say City are so strong, but the Premier League is so difficult. Today was the real proof.

"I am a big fan of Brentford. They play long balls, but they have the ability to play as well.

"I give a lot of credit to my players, from where we come from in the past, but to still be able to suffer. I prefer to win that way rather than four or five nil. We need that."

City has now won back-to-back home games in the Premier League after conceding the opening goal for the first time since November 2019, while it is now unbeaten in its past eight matches – home and away – when conceding first in the competition.

Brentford, meanwhile, has lost five of its seven meetings with City in the top flight – the joint-most defeats it has suffered against an opponent in the competition alongside Liverpool and Newcastle United.

Frank left Manchester disappointed in the result, but proud of his side's performance.

"Standing here I am a combination of extremely disappointed we didn't get something out of this game but on the other hand very proud," Frank said. 

"The first 25 minutes was world class, we were better than Manchester City. Second half they were more on top and made it difficult.

"A point would have been fair and not often teams can come here and say that.

"You could say if we need to win here we needed to take more of the chances we had in the first half.

"I respect Pep Guardiola very much and a lot of the reasons I do is because he made tactical changes at half-time, and then he is not too proud to put the ball down in the corner because they need to win. We must have done something right today.

"This is a fantastic group to work with and we need to keep doing this."