Erling Haaland amazing stats and then you have…Newcastle United | OneFootball

Erling Haaland scored ‘only’ 22 Premier League goals last season, finishing behind Mo Salah (29) and Alexander Isak (23).

The Manchester City striker didn’t take this too well seemingly, as this season he is looking all but unstoppable.

Erling Haaland having scored 14 Premier League goals already, which is 10 more than Mo Salah and 14 ahead of Alexander Isak.

Clear second behind the Man City striker is Igor Thiago at Brentford with eight, then the next highest has six.

In total for club and country, Erling Haaland already has 32 goals across 20 matches. I even saw a feature on Sky Sports earlier on Tuesday wondering if 100 goals could be possible this season for the Norwegian?

Having scored five goals in four Champions League matches this season, he is looking more dangerous than ever.

Whilst scoring 16 goals in Norway’s eight World Cup group qualifiers, is just beyond belief from Erling Haaland.

Something else that is beyond belief, is the Erling Haaland record against Newcastle United…

It was summer 2022 when he signed for Manchester City.

The Norway international scored in his first ever Premier League game in a win at West Ham, a penalty.

However, it was Man City’s third PL game of the 2022/23 season when Erling Haaland scored his first Premier League goal in open play.

On 21 August 2022, it was a day when the clear man of the match was…Allan Saint-Maximin. One of those stellar days when ASM was unplayable, making all three Newcastle United goals. United deserved to win but let a 3-1 lead slip, Erling Haaland making it 3-2 and then Bernardo Silva rescuing a point for Man City.

It will be just over three years and three months later when Newcastle United and Manchester City meet on Saturday, since that 3-3 draw.

Do you know how many goals Erling Haaland has scored against Newcastle United since then?

Well, his grand total against NUFC, sees Haaland only with that one goal, in all competitions.

Newcastle have played Man City seven times in the Premier League, FA Cup and League Cup, since that 3-3 match, yet Erling Haaland hasn’t managed another goal against NUFC, despite breaking all kinds of records against the rest.

Manchester City have still managed to find ways to win and get draws against Newcastle United, yet not thanks to any Haaland goal(s).

No doubt many of you are thinking I am tempting fate, by pointing this out.

However, it is simply the facts.

What for me it points to is how well Eddie Howe prepares for matches, for the particular circumstances and threats the opposition bring.

I think it has been top notch the way that the Newcastle United boss has set his team up to deal with easily the best striker of his generation. The fact that Man City have had such a powerful array of weapons due to their financial strength and Pep’s brilliant management, has meant that a number of times it still hasn’t been possible to get a positive result against Man City.

I am really looking forward to Saturday and seeing what Eddie Howe has planned, both in terms of keeping Erling Haaland quiet AND creating a goal threat at the other end of the pitch.