Erling Haaland is widely regarded as one of, if not the, best goalscorer in world football at present, having established himself as the leading marksman in Pep Guardiola's Manchester City side.
The 24-year-old scored a remarkable 90 goals in 98 appearances across his first two seasons with the Citizens, breaking a plethora of records and winning two Premier League Golden Boot awards in the process.
With Haaland now bidding to once again etch his name into the history books and fire Man City to more silverware, Sports Mole takes a look at the Norwegian's scoring record in the 2024-25 campaign, how many goals he is projected to score and what single-season record he is attempting to break.
Haaland's form to date
Man City's defence of their Premier League title began away against Chelsea, before they concluded the month of August with a home fixture against newly-promoted Ipswich Town and an away clash with West Ham United.
In that period, Haaland made an electric start in front of goal, scoring an impressive seven times in just three matches, including an 18th-minute strike on his 100th appearance for the Citizens in a 2-0 win at Chelsea on the opening weekend.
City's No.9 then netted two superb hat-tricks in 4-1 and 3-1 victories over Ipswich and West Ham respectively, and he has since unsurprisingly been nominated for the Premier League's Player of the Month award for August.
How many goals is Haaland projected to score at current rate?
Haaland is currently averaging 2.3 goals per game and if you were to project that over the entire 2024-25 Premier League season, he would make the net ripple a staggering 89 times.
Maintaining that incredible scoring rate may well be a tall order even for Haaland, but there is no doubt that the Scandinavian goal machine has proven how deadly he can be in the final third.
What is the current single-season scoring record Haaland is trying to beat?
Haaland is attempting to break his own single-season scoring record in the Premier League. The striker surpassed Andy Cole and Alan Shearer (34 goals) when he netted 36 goals in just 35 appearances during the 2022-23 season - his debut campaign as a Citizens player.
City's No.9, who scored 27 times in the 2023-24 season, is bidding to become only the second player in Premier League history after Shearer (three times) to score 30 goals or more in multiple seasons.
List of the Premier League's all-time record goalscorers in a single season:
36 goals: Erling Haaland (Man City | 2022-23 | 38-game season)
34 goals: Andy Cole (Newcastle United | 1993-94 | 42-game season)
34 goals: Alan Shearer (Blackburn Rovers | 1994-95 | 42-game season)
32 goals: Mohamed Salah (Liverpool | 2017-18 | 38-game season)
31 goals: Alan Shearer (Blackburn Rovers | 1993-94 | 42-game season)
31 goals: Alan Shearer (Blackburn Rovers | 1995-96 | 42-game season)
31 goals: Cristiano Ronaldo (Man United | 2007-08 | 38-game season)
31 goals: Luis Suarez (Liverpool | 2013-14 | 38-game season)
What next? Who is Haaland's next opponent?
Haaland will next be in Premier League action when Man City welcome Brentford to the Etihad Stadium on September 14. He scored his first and only goal to date against the Bees in a slender 1-0 home win for the Citizens in February last season.
Eight days later, Haaland and co travel to the Emirates Stadium to lock horns with title rivals Arsenal. Haaland has recorded two goals and two assists in four league encounters with the Gunners, but he failed to contribute to a single goal in last season's home and away meetings, with City losing 1-0 in North London and drawing 0-0 at the Etihad. body check tags ::
