Erling Haaland breaks Premier League record as City moves back to top
2 min read
Erling Haaland broke the Premier League’s all-time season scoring record on Wednesday night as Manchester City saw off West Ham 3-0 at the Etihad.
Nathan Ake headed the champions-elect ahead shortly after half-time before the Norwegian machine lobbed Lukasz Fabianski to seure yet another piece of history.
The visitors were hit late by a sickness bug which saw Declan Rice, Tomas Soucek and Nayef Aguerd all sent home from Manchester earlier in the day, but West Ham remained resolute and forced City to work incredibly hard for their points.
Predictably, City dominated the early possession and came closest inside ten minutes as Riyad Mahrez’s low drive wasn’t spotted until late by Fabianski, who got down well to turn the ball away.
Haaland later headed wide from a tight angle, with City finding it hard to get through West Ham’s rigid shape.
The Hammers had Fabianski’s left post to thank on the half-hour mark as Rodri’s effort beat the goalkeeper but bounced back off the woodwork and trickled agonisingly across the box and away as West Ham continued to frustrate their hosts.
However, City needed just four minutes to take the lead in the second half. Mahrez’s free-kick was met at the far post by Ake, who steered his header beyond Fabianski.
The tempo of the game didn’t really change after the goal and it took City nearly 20 minutes to carve out another real opportunity. Julian Alvarez attempted to replicate his screamer from the Fulham game but didn’t have the power to beat Fabianski.
There was no stopping Haaland, however, as the Norwegian dinked home his 35th goal of the campaign to break the Premier League’s all-time scoring record.
With the floodgates now opened, Phil Foden volleyed home a third with five minutes to go, benefitting from a deflection from Emerson to cap off a famous night for City.
