Manchester City thrashed Ipswich Town 4-1 in a Premier League match at the Etihad Stadium recently. Erling Haaland scored a hat-trick and Kevin de Bruyne scored another goal to steer the Cityzens to a comfortable win after Ipswich had gotten the lead in the initial stages of the match. They then beat West Ham United on August 31, with Haaland scoring a hat-trick once again.
Haaland had scored his first goal of the season against Chelsea. The 24-year-old Norwegian, who has won the Premier League Golden Boot in each of the last two seasons, thus threaten to have another supremely successful season for the English champions, which is an ominous sign for their rivals.
Haaland’s Scoring Record is Jaw-dropping
Haaland played his 100th match for the Cityzens against Chelsea last weekend. He now has scored 97 goals in 102 matches for Pep Guardiola’s side, which is a fantastic return by any standard. He has been scoring almost a goal every match on an average for more than two seasons, which is quite incredible to say the least.
While he scored a goal from a penalty against Ipswich, the other two goals scored by him had class written all over them. First, he dodged past the opposition goalkeeper with a brilliant first touch and then finished with an equally superb second one. Then, he scored with a scorching left-footer in the second half to complete his hat-trick. His hat-trick against West Ham was every bit as fascinating.
Haaland’s left foot is one of the most lethal ones seen in any striker in the recent past. What is even more surprising that he was very close to scoring at least two more goals on the day, and was only denied by the woodwork and the Ipswich goalkeeper, Arijanet Muric.
Manchester City Has Tough Matches Coming Up
The Cityzens have a demanding month coming up. They will take on Arsenal and Newcastle United within the next four weeks, each of whom can potentially turn out to be a tricky opposition.
Haaland will have to at the top of his game if the Cityzens are to go through this tough phase with flying colours. The Norwegian has the somewhat undesirable reputation of not being able to score against other big teams. He will get a chance to prove the doubters wrong in the next three-four matches.
The match against Arsenal, in particular, will be a stiff test for him. He will come up against the centre-back pairing of Gabriel and William Saliba, who have traditionally enjoyed a good record against him.
Much has been said about his link-up play or lack thereof, but Haaland must know that as long as he keeps scoring goals in abundance, the opponents will continue to be wary of him.
With providers like de Bruyne, Bernardo Silva, İlkay Gündoğan and Phil Foden being in the team, he will not have to worry about the ball coming his way. As far as putting it into the net is concerned, there are few players, if any, in the world, who are better at it than the Norwegian. His current form will undoubtedly keep his coach satisfied.