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There is no question who the individual stars of the Premier League have been so far this season. Manchester City‘s Erling Braut Haaland acquisition always seemed to be a huge success, and it proved to be so.
Haaland has been crucial for City so far this season
The Norwegian forward has netted 25 Premier League goals this season, meaning he is nine ahead of Harry Kane in winning the Golden Boot. As long as he’s not seriously injured, it seems like an unassailable lead.
There is some debate that City are a worse team when Haaland is not scoring because he restricts the movement of other attackers. We decided to cancel his goals and see how Pep Guardiola’s team would be without Haaland’s goals.
In how many games has Erling Haaland scored for Manchester City?
Incredibly, the former Borussia Dortmund man has scored in 14 of City’s 20 Premier League appearances so far this season. In addition, he scored 4 hat-tricks in his first 20 games, setting a new record for left and center.
He also scored in big games, scoring a hat-trick against Manchester United, a goal against Tottenham and a goal against Newcastle United. He also scored in seven straight games early in the campaign before his scoring rate dipped slightly.
How will Erling Haaland’s goal affect the Premier League table?
It would certainly be disingenuous to simply cancel Haaland’s goal and label City as poor without him, when someone else could have scored at least some goals in that position. That man was most likely Julian Alvarez, and he wasn’t an idiot.
Haaland’s goals have been crucial to Pep Guardiola’s side this season and without them the reigning Premier League champions would be in 10th place, level with Aston Villa on points and just +8 on goal difference leading.
City currently sit second in the Premier League table with 45 points, but they are 10th on 28 without Haaland.
Haaland’s hat-tricks were against Crystal Palace 4-0, Nottingham Forest 6-0, Manchester United 6-3, Wolves 3-0. City have only won two games in which Haaland has played without scoring. They beat Chelsea 1-0 and Bournemouth 4-0.
Even with Haaland’s goal canceled out, City have still won seven games this season. They will draw seven and lose six.
Haaland did have a dry spell over Christmas and early January, but he appears to be coming back with a vengeance. He recently scored once in a 4-2 win over Tottenham and then scored all three in a recent 3-0 win over Wolves.
