Haaland, man or machine?
With his goal against Fulham in a 5-4 victory for Man City, Erling Haaland became the quickest man to 100 goals in Premier League history.
The top 5 quickest to 100 Premier League goals are:
Erling Haaland 111 games
Alan Shearer 124 games
Harry Kane 141 games
Sergio Aguero 147 games
Thierry Henry 160 games
Overall, as you would expect, in the shooting stats Haaland is head and shoulders above the other chasing Premier League strikers.
Haaland, quickest to 100 EPL goals
Hold on… except in Goals scored per shot (Goals/Shot) and Goals scored per Shots on Target (Goals/SoT)
How can that be?
Well he gets 47% more shots away than the next best Jean-Philippe Mateta of Crystal Palace.
47% !!!
If you’ve been reading my perious posts you will know I have quoted an old football adage “if you don’t shoot you don’t score”. And Haaland certainly does shoot a lot. It helps when you play in a team like Man City with a wealth of creative talent to set you up. But he is 56% ahead on shots taken by 3rd placed Cody Gakpo of Liverpool, and that team is not short on creative talent, even if they have not been getting in the points too much of late.
Final Verdict:
Erling Haaland is a beast. He is on target to score 40 Premier League goals this season.
Previously in a 38 game EPL season the most goals scored is:
Erling Haaland (Manchester City) 36 2022-23
Mohamed Salah (Liverpool) 32 2017-18
Alan Shearer (Blackburn Rovers) 31 1995-96
Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United) 31 2007-08
Luis Suárez (Liverpool) 31 2013-14
Andy Cole (Newcastle Utd 1993-94) and Alan Shearer (Blackburn Rovers 1994-95) both scored 34 goals in the respective season but back then it was a 22 team league so it was over 42 games
Will Haaland SHOOT his way to 40 this season? I think he just could, barring injuries.
Lets see.
All stats for this analysis are provided by FBref
FROM THE DUGOUT
"I have five hat-trick balls in my bed and I sleep well with them. They are my girlfriends."
Erling Haaland
The Devil is in the Detail