We’re not even halfway through the Premier League season and it already looks all current goalscoring records held will be smashed by Erling Haaland.
WIth 14 goals in his opening eight Premier League games and surrounded by some of the best players at Manchester City, the Norway international is the most dangerous player on the planet right now and is yet to show much weakness.
Here’s who he’s hunting down to become the most prolific scorer in a single Premier League season.
Two of the greatest goalscorers the Premier League have ever seen in Andy Cole and Alan Shearer currently share this record, having netted 34 goals each in the 1993/94 and 1994/95 seasons respectively.
Cole racked up his efforts in his first Premier League season with Newcastle, having fired the Magpies to promotion the season before. He would only spend another half-season at St James’ Park before completing a shock move to Manchester United, where he enjoyed success both domestically and in Europe.
Shearer’s goals fired Blackburn to their shock Premier League title triumph in 1994/95, his partnership with Chris Sutton up front helping Kenny Dalglish’s side see off Manchester United at the top of the table. He ended his career with 260 goals in the Premier League, a record which stands today.
Will Erling Haaland break the record?
Right now, you’d be a fool to bet against Haaland in any sense. His start to life in the Premier League has been so rollicking and chaotic that the strike rates of legendary figures like Shearer and Cole just pale in comparison.
Averaging 1.75 goals a game in his first eight matches, Haaland would end the 2022/23 season with his league tally in the mid-60s.
The Norwegian has already done the lion’s amount of work – he’s almost halfway to the numbers put up by Cole and Shearer – and with the likes of Kevin De Bruyne, Bernardo Silva and Phil Foden assisting him just to name a few, it’s hard to see how the goals stop flying in. And that’s ominous for the rest of the Premier League.