The sensational stats behind Man City hitman Erling Haaland's start to the season
Norway's failure to qualify for Euro 2024 was a blessing for Manchester City. While Erling Haaland still won the Premier League Golden Boot in 2023/24 with 27 goals to his name, the Norwegian hitman's injury issues saw him start just 29 of 38 league matches. Rather than feature for his nation in Germany, however, Haaland was able to focus on getting himself ready for the new season, biding his time like Darth Vader in a bacta tank.
A summer off has proven instrumental in City's flying start to the season. They are the only side in the top four tiers of English football to boast a 100% start to the campaign following their 2-1 win over Brentford at the weekend, and central to their efforts in the opening weeks of the season has been goal machine Haaland.
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City have scored at least three more goals (11) than any other Premier League side this season, of which Haaland has scored nine. Back-to-back hat-tricks against Ipswich and West Ham helped boost his numbers but the forward himself has hit the back of the net more times than the other 19 Premier League teams. Chelsea, with eight, and Haaland's nearest competitor.
Unsuprisingly, no player has had more shots than Haaland (20) in England's top tier this term, while of the 84 players to have managed at least five shots in the Premier League this season, the 24-year-old has the best conversion rate (45%) in the division. Of the 14 shots on target he has managed, only five have been saved - two by Mark Flekken, two by Alphonse Areola, and one by Arijanet Muric.
It's hardly a shock, too, to see that Haaland has scored more clear-cut goalscoring opportunities (6) than any other player in the 2024/25 Premier League campaign, while only missing two. For context, Ollie Watkins has missed the most big chances (6) in England's top tier this term.
What's all the more impressive is that Haaland is scoring the chances he perhaps shouldn't be. Indeed, he has generated 4.49 Expected Goals in his opening four appearances and is outperforming his xG by 4.51, far and away the biggest overperformance in the Premier League. He's scored double the goals he should have done given the quality of chances presented to him. At his current rate of 2.3 goals per game, Haaland is currently on track to end the season with 87 Premier League goals to his name.
So far this season, Erling Haaland has scored 9 goals from 4.49 xG...
— WhoScored.com (@WhoScored) September 16, 2024
In other words, the #ManCity man has scored twice as many goals as expected, given the quality of chances presented to him. 🤯 pic.twitter.com/XBDgE6BMn2
While it's not a sustainable record for the striker, it's proof how beneficial a summer off football can be for a player. With the games now coming thick and fast following the revamped Champions League, City will hope to keep their star striker firing on all cylinders for the foreseeable future. We're only in mid-September, after all, and the race for the Golden Boot, injury permitting, is Haaland's to lose.
