Erling Haaland: Breaking Records in the Premier League

For Erling Haaland the sky is the limit. It was not enough for him to break the records of Mohamed Salah, Luis Suárez or Cristiano Ronaldo. Players who were historic in the Premier League did not achieve what the Norwegian is doing this season with Manchester City.

In his previous match against West Ham, the forward who is living his first season in England smashed the goalscoring records of Andy Cole (1993-1994) and Alan Shearer (1994-1995). Both players held the record for most goals in a Premier League season (34) until Haaland arrived and in the previous game he scored 35 goals.

This record is dimensioned more, since he did it in 39 games. Cole (Newcastle) and Shearer (Blackburn Rovers) did it in 40 and 42 games respectively. While Salah added 32 goals in 36 games, Suárez reached 31 goals in 33 games, while Ronaldo broke the net 31 times in 34 games.

Haaland still has five league games ahead of him, so he has a chance to increase his lead. The 22-year-old has featured in 31 Premier League games this season.

According to the statistics, in addition to his more skilled leg (left), Haaland possesses another deadly weapon: his header. Of the 34 goals scored, 22 of them have been with the left foot, six with the right and six with headers. This shows that the Norwegian is capable of scoring several goals with both profiles, and his passing game is a danger to the rival defense.

If the rival team wants Haaland not to score a goal, he must stay outside the goalkeeper’s box. Of all his goals, 33 have been inside the goalkeeper’s area, while only one has been outside the area. In total he has shot on goal 106 times, of which 55 have been on goal, with a goal average of 32%. That is, one goal for every 71′ played.

Forward Shearer gave statements for the BBC television network before the game and gave up his record, but highlighted Haaland’s good game that he has shown these months in England.

“What a player. He will continue scoring goals. He will break the record and I will be the first to congratulate him. He is on a higher level. Scoring 50 goals in a season is something extraordinary,” said the former Blackburn Rovers player.

The numbers of the City striker are so exorbitant that since the 1930-1931 season, that is, 92 years ago, a player in the English league has not been seen surpassing the 50-goal mark. Tom ‘Pongo’ Waring, former Aston Villa player, reached that number of goals. Since then, only Clive Allen, formerly of Tottenham, has been able to get close to Waring in the 1986-87 season, when he scored 49 goals in all the tournaments he played. Currently, Haaland has shouted 51 goals.

After the match against West Ham, Haaland was a little ironic and said that there are still nine finals to play, but that he would first go home to rest and play video games. This, after being asked if he sees himself breaking other records.

“I don’t think about this. I’m going to sleep tonight and then I’ll think about the three points against Leeds. Now I’m going to go home, play some video games, and then sleep. We have nine games (only if they reach the UEFA Champions League final) and they are all finals,” Haaland said.

Haaland did not reveal what video games he usually plays, since he is “ashamed” to tell what he usually spends his free time on. “He makes me too ashamed,” the ‘sky blues’ player replied before the game.

Another record in sight

If scoring 51 goals in a single season in all competitions seems difficult, achieving 63 seems unreal. However, this was achieved by Dixie Dean with Everton in the 1927-1928 season. Of these 63 that Dean achieved, 60 of them were in the league. With the pace that the Norwegian has, it is possible that in the remaining games he can break the barrier of 63 goals.

Haaland has his goals distributed as follows: 35 in the Premier League, 12 in the UEFA Champions League, three in the FA Cup and one in the Carabao Cup. He only went blank in the Community Shield final.

Has competition in South America

Neither Lionel Messi nor Kylian Mbappé, Robert Lewandowski or Karim Benzema come close to or surpass Haaland’s numbers. However, in Brazil there is a player who competes with the Norwegian.

If we look at the calendar for the calendar year, Germán Cano, a Brazilian Fluminense player, has scored the same number of goals as Haaland, but in less time. So far he has played 21 games and has broken the nets 23 times. With the hat-trick scored the previous Tuesday against Argentine River Plate, he surpassed the Norwegian’s record.

Argentine striker Cano, 35, has managed to score in all the competitions he has played (Brasileirao, Taça Guanabara, Copa do Brasil and Copa Libertadores).

Manchester City has a ‘goal predator’ among its ranks, Haaland, and it is not surprising that in the remaining games it can reach the figure of 63 goals.