Erling Haaland sets Premier League goal-scoring record not seen in 35 years
Despite having already spent several years in the Premier League, Erling Haaland remains an unsolvable problem for opposing managers. The Manchester City striker continues to dismantle defensive gameplans and score goals at a pace English soccer hasn’t seen in decades.
This Saturday, the Norwegian forward netted a brace against Everton in a 2–0 win for the Citizens at Etihad Stadium. His first came from a header off a cross from the left, and just five minutes later, he doubled the lead with a composed finish that the opposing goalkeeper couldn’t stop.
With those goals, Haaland extended his lead atop the Premier League’s scoring chart. He now has 11 goals—five more than the next top scorer in the league, Bournemouth’s Antoine Semenyo. With just eight matches played, Haaland is averaging an astonishing 1.375 goals per game.
But that’s not all. Since the Premier League’s inception in 1992, only three times has a player reached double-digit goals within the first eight matchdays of a season—and incredibly, all three instances belong to Erling Haaland.
In the 2022–23 season, his first in England after arriving from Borussia Dortmund, Haaland scored 11 goals in his first eight games. In 2024–25, he hit 10 over the same span. His “worst” start came in 2023–24, when he scored eight goals in the first eight matches—still averaging one per game.
Haaland’s dominance over the Premier League
Haaland is now beginning his fourth season with Manchester City. In two of the past three campaigns, he has finished as the Premier League’s top scorer. He won his first Golden Boot in 2022–23 with a league-record 36 goals, ahead of Harry Kane’s 30.
In his second year, Haaland repeated the feat with 27 goals—five more than Cole Palmer. However, in the most recent season, the Norwegian couldn’t maintain that pace and finished third in the scoring race with 22 goals, behind Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah (29) and Newcastle’s Alexander Isak (23).
How far is Haaland from becoming the Premier League’s all-time top scorer?
Since the Premier League was formed in 1992, its all-time leading scorer is Alan Shearer, who netted 260 goals for Blackburn Rovers and Newcastle between 1992 and 2006. Behind him on the list are Harry Kane (213) and Wayne Rooney (208).
Erling Haaland has scored 96 goals in 105 Premier League appearances since arriving in England in 2022. He’s just four goals shy of the 100-goal mark—a milestone only 34 players in league history have reached.
At his current pace, Haaland should hit the century mark within the next few weeks. From there, he could rapidly climb the all-time rankings and make a serious push toward Shearer’s historic tally.
There’s another record where Haaland could soon leave his mark: becoming the Premier League’s all-time top foreign scorer. That record currently belongs to Mohamed Salah, who recently overtook Sergio Agüero with 188 goals to the Argentine’s 184.