Erling Haaland’s absurd 100th PL goal almost lost in even more absurd Man City win at Fulham | OneFootball

Erling Haaland’s record-breaking entry into the 100 Club quickly felt like ancient history as Manchester City almost self-destructed against their favourite Premier League opponents.

Haaland was stuck on 99 Premier League goals for a few weeks before finally reaching a century against Fulham on Tuesday night, joining the prestigious 100 Club in only 111 appearances. He beat Alan Shearer’s long-standing record of 124 games. It is an incredible milestone and one that was once viewed as unbreakable…until Haaland came along.

The Nordic robot has been taking the p*ss out of Premier League defenders since day one. With regretful naivety, we started to track his numbers as soon as it became clear that he was here to eventually break Shearer’s all-time record. Nobody realised how extreme his output would become.

Under contract until 2034, he is surely going to smash Shearer’s 260. At this rate he will probably score 500, especially if Fulham stay in the top flight because their record against Manchester City is astonishingly poor.

After Tuesday night’s ridiculous 5-4 win at Craven Cottage, City have now won their last 16 Premier League meetings with Fulham. It is the longest winning streak one side has ever had against another in English league history. The run is now 19 across all competitions.

Fulham’s last victory over City came in April 2009. They drew twice in 2011, which is the last time they avoided defeat. Since City’s takeover in 2008, the Londoners have one win, four draws and now 22 defeats.

Judging by their performance on Tuesday, particularly in the first half, something strange happens to this team whenever they face City. It is bizarre, especially from an Arsenal perspective, considering how often Fulham have frustrated them in recent seasons.

Fulham were second best in every department in the first half. City were ruthless enough to (seemingly) put the game to bed before the break, even when Emile Smith Rowe scored a lovely header in stoppage time to make it 3-1.

It is astonishing that this did not end up being a routine win for City when Haaland made it 1-0 in the 17th minute, and even more so when it became 5-1 in the 54th.

Haaland’s opener was emphatic, but it came from brilliant work by Jeremy Doku and Tijjani Reijnders, who cleverly dummied the Belgian’s left-footed cross.

And just when the praise was all about his goalscoring, Haaland showed the other, underappreciated side of his game.

He dropped between the lines, shrugged off Joachim Andersen so forcefully that the defender was bounced a yard away from the ball, and played an outstanding first-time through ball for Reijnders to dink over Leno. After a quiet few months, it is no surprise to see a Reijnder come out to play in December.

Pep Guardiola needs other players like Reijnders to step up during the congested Christmas period. Going into Saturday’s game against Leeds United, City’s second-highest league scorer behind Haaland was Burnley defender Maxime Esteve with two own goals. Phil Foden showed he is ready to step up as Haaland drew a blank, scoring a match-winning brace, and on Tuesday he scored a peach for 3-0 before grabbing his fifth Premier League goal of the season two minutes after half-time for 4-1.

When Doku’s effort deflected off Sander Berge for 5-1, any lingering doubt should have been gone. But Alex Iwobi curled in from distance for 5-2 with half an hour left, and suddenly Samuel Chukwueze scored twice in five minutes to set up an absurd finale on an absurd night of Barclays.

They could not, could they? No. They could not.

City made hard work of it in the end. It was a game so wild that Haaland’s record of 100 in 111 became a footnote. But City did hold on on, so that is what this night will be remembered for.

He has been an incredible addition to the Premier League. The vast majority of City’s success in front of goal is rightly credited to Haaland, but he has also been managed expertly since arriving from Borussia Dortmund in 2022.

People forget he was injury-prone in Germany. In 2021/22 he missed 20 games for Dortmund and Norway, which is only seven fewer than his total for club and country since the start of 2022/23.

Guardiola uses him perfectly, which has reduced his muscle injuries. He no longer relies on explosive sprints or constant runs in behind, mostly because that is impossible against the low blocks City face. Instead, his game now focuses on poaching and hold-up play, and those qualities have helped him reach 100 goals in absurd time, on a night that somehow turned out to be even more absurd than the record itself.