Haaland scored 20 City goals and equaled the record: – An incredible weapon
Jærbuen scored his 15th full-time goal in nine league matches after 65 minutes of wasted time. After several dangerous runs, the timing and finish perfectly set up a low cross from João Cancelo.
With that, Haaland made sure to have scored in ten club matches in a row. It is a tangerine of the City record of Billy McAdams from 1957.
– Erling Haaland had chances again, and he scored a brilliant goal. He is an incredible weapon and a great threat to us. I am very happy, as City manager Pep Guardiola told the BBC after the victory.
For a long time it did not seem that Haaland had the day. After barely a quarter of an hour, he sent a rush into the far post, and a few minutes before scoring, he narrowly missed getting his feet on an exquisite ball from Kevin De Bruyne.
When the goal finally came, the BBC referred to it as “final” in its live coverage. It has become unusual when Haaland needs over an hour to find the back of the net. England’s former top scorer Gary Lineker joked Twitter by writing that “the Haaland drought is over”.
An exuberant Cancelo put City in the lead after half-time in the first half, while a lob from Phil Foden doubled it twelve minutes later. 3-0 came on Riyad Mahrez’s volley just after the break.
Always attended
In total, the Norwegian has 20 goals in 13 City matches. It is only Bournemouth that has kept the super striker out of the net since the start of the season, but did not stop him from hitting a goal-scoring pass.
In other words, Haaland has not played a single meaningful match for Manchester City without directly appearing in the team’s results.
The 22-year-old’s appetite for goals has “shocked” Football England. Several experts doubted this summer that Haaland would be an immediate hit after the transfer from Borussia Dortmund. They thought he needed an adjustment phase, but he struck instead with a historically good start to Premier League life.
Record hunting
Many more statistics stand for fall if Haaland continues in the same style, and the closest is the number of league players with scoring. He is four games behind Jamie Vardy’s record (11) from Leicester’s sensational run to the league title in 2015/16.
Southampton were coming off three straight defeats before Saturday’s tough task in Manchester. Mohamed Elyounoussi comes on to score minutes after Haaland’s goal.
Manchester City went top of the table on 23 points with Saturday’s win. That points down to Arsenal.
City will soon have a big game against Liverpool (16/10) and Arsenal (19/10). Before that, a new championship meeting awaits with FC Copenhagen in Denmark.
(© NTB)