Football writer Dan Edwards analyses Erling Haaland's incredible start to the season which continued as Manchester City beat Brentford on Sunday.
Erling Haaland was the match-winner once again as Manchester City ground out a narrow 1-0 victory away to Brentford, to capitalise on a second successive defeat for Liverpool in the Premier League.
It was Man City’s 250th win in the Premier League under Pep Guardiola, making him only the fourth manager to reach that tally, after Sir Alex Ferguson, Arsene Wenger and David Moyes. He's the fastest in that quartet to hit the landmark, doing so in his 349th match in the competition.
It took only nine minutes for Haaland to score with his only shot of the game, utilising a deadly mixture of strength and composure after he was picked out by Josko Gvardiol for the second match running.
Haaland has taken his tally to nine goals for the season in the Premier League, going three clear of AFC Bournemouth's Antoine Semenyo as he hunts down his third Golden Boot.
The Norwegian had never previously scored at Brentford’s Gtech Community Stadium, but his strike means he has now found the net at 22 of the 23 stadia he has played at in the Premier League, the highest percentage of any player in the competition’s history.
The only stadium missing off his list is Anfield, where he is yet to score in three appearances in league action.
He will have the opportunity to right that wrong when Man City travel to Liverpool in February.
"I have never felt better than I do now," Haaland told Sky Sports after the win.
When asked if he was in the best form of his life, his response was simply, "Yes, you can say that."
And the stats certainly agree.
Haaland has scored in nine consecutive matches for club and country, the longest scoring streak of his career.
His tally for the season so far now stands at 18 goals in all competitions for Man City and Norway; he has only failed to score in one of his 14 matches, in the home defeat to Tottenham Hotspur in August.
Haaland's hot streak in 2025/26
Haaland's nine goals from the opening seven matches is the third-highest return in Premier League history.
Remarkably, he has only ever been bettered by himself, netting 11 times in 2022/23 and 10 times in 2024/25 at this stage of the season.
Unsurprisingly, he also holds the record for the most goals scored after eight games — 14 in 2022/23 — and as well as he is playing, he is unlikely to match that after his next appearance.
Most goals in first seven PL matches
| Season | Player | Total |
| 2022/23 | Erling Haaland | 11 |
|---|---|---|
| 2024/25 | Erling Haaland | 10 |
| 2025/26 | Erling Haaland | 9 |
| 2011/12 | Wayne Rooney | 9 |
| 2014/15 | Diego Costa | 9 |
Outscoring every player in the Premier League is something Haaland has become accustomed to, but extraordinarily, he is also comfortably outscoring entire squads.
Only seven Premier League teams have bettered his nine goals this season, and one of those is of course his own club, Man City.
Watch all of Haaland's nine league goals in 2025/26
Indeed, he has matched both Manchester United and Crystal Palace for goals this season, and he has done so without taking a penalty or being caught offside.
His scoring rate has seen him playfully referred to as a machine or even a robot by fans and media alike, but Haaland reminded onlookers that he is human after all, citing his first child as a reason for his current levels.
"It is about preparation, getting ready for the games. You can be physically ready, but you need to be mentally ready.
"With [having] a kid, it makes me even better because I disconnect more than ever," he added.
"I don't think about football at all. When you are young, you think of this and that, and maybe worry about things but when I get home, I relax even more. I think I need to give a shout-out to my son."
Injuries permitting, it’s hard to imagine Haaland not winning the Premier League Golden Boot award again this season. What may be more of a challenge is winning the European Golden Boot for a second time, to add to the one he received in 2022/23.
Currently, Haaland is only being outscored by Harry Kane among players in Europe’s top five divisions, while he is tied with Kylian Mbappe. It's worth noting, though, that he has outscored both of those rivals when penalties are excluded.
Most goals in Europe's top five leagues 25/26
| Player | Goals | Goals (exc. pens) |
| Harry Kane | 11 | 7 |
|---|---|---|
| Erling Haaland | 9 | 9 |
| Kylian Mbappe | 9 | 7 |
| Julian Alvarez | 6 | 5 |
| Antoine Semenyo | 6 | 5 |
| Can Uzun | 5 | 5 |
| Etta Eyong | 5 | 5 |
| Luis Diaz | 5 | 5 |
| Vinicius Junior | 5 | 4 |
| Joaquin Panichelli | 5 | 3 |
How is the title race shaping up?
There has finally been some change at the top of the table as we head into the October international break.
With Liverpool losing consecutive matches, this is the first Matchweek to end without the Reds as leaders since October 2024.
Arsenal capitalised on Liverpool’s drop-off yesterday with a victory at home to West Ham United to go top, and Man City are now within three points of the lead themselves after their victory at Brentford.
It may well be that Arsenal stretch their lead at the top, such is their run of fixtures after they return from the break; the Gunners’ next four fixtures are against Fulham, Palace, Burnley and Sunderland.
While it’s certainly not a guaranteed 12 points, it does offer them a good chance of extending their lead at the top - especially so given Man City or Liverpool, or both, will drop points when they face each other in Matchweek 11.
Man City’s next three matches before that meeting are against Everton, Aston Villa and AFC Bournemouth, while Liverpool face Man Utd, Brentford and Villa before heading to the Etihad Stadium.
Guardiola's side will need to improve if they are to challenge – they had just one shot in the second half at Brentford.
They also lost Rodri to injury once again, with the Spaniard coming off in the 22nd minute while clutching his hamstring. His replacement, Nico Gonzalez, did showcase that he may be ready to deputise.
Man City do have time to up their game, and they are famed for their strong finishes, so they need not be overly concerned with having to chase an opponent down during the run-in.
They won their final 14 league matches in 2018/19 to beat Liverpool to the title, and their final eight games in 2023/24 to hold off Arsenal at the summit.
Chelsea’s victory against Liverpool, despite a raft of injuries, proved that they should not be ruled out and Spurs sit in third place after victory away to Leeds United.
Bournemouth won from behind against Fulham to put themselves in fourth place heading into the break, while Palace’s 19-match unbeaten run in all competitions was finally ended by Everton.
This weekend has truly shaken up the title race and serves as a warning to never crown the champions too early.