Norwegian on fire 

©TM/IMAGO

Manchester City are on the quest to win their fifth consecutive English Premier League title and they are in ominous form for their rivals. City are renowned for finishing the season in blistering form but they’ve looked polished at the start of the 2024/25 campaign. 

After winning the Community Shield against rivals Manchester United, City have picked up maximum points from their opening three league games to sit joint top alongside Liverpool on nine points. Unsurprisingly, Erling Haaland has been pivotal with the striker in unbelievable goalscoring form with seven goals in three games – which is record.

Most goals in opening three league games since 2000

Haaland’s tally of seven goals in the opening three league games of the season is a record across the top five leagues since 2000. Haaland netted consecutive hat-tricks against Ipswich Town and West Ham United after scoring in the opening weekend against Chelsea. The 24-year-old’s two hat-tricks in the league this season took his tally to eight trebles in just 69 games – an average of one every nine games.

As the graphic above illustrates, an abundance of players registered six goals in their opening three league games but only Haaland has managed seven. Former Man City striker Eden Dzeko managed to net six goals in three games at the start of the 2011/12 season and Cristiano Ronaldo managed it in the same campaign for Real Madrid in 2011/22.