Erling Haaland made an explosive start to the defence of his Golden Boot, scoring with his first touch of the season against Burnley on Friday night.
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It took the Manchester City striker just three minutes and four seconds to open his account for the campaign and indeed score the first goal of the entire 2023/24 Premier League season.
But this is one record that Haaland has not quite been able to break in the competition.
See: Opening goalscorers of all Premier League seasons
While Opta do not have the exact goal times for historic Premier League seasons, four players have scored inside the first three minutes at the very start of the season.
Earliest time for season's first goal
| Minute | Season | Player | Club | Opp. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2nd | 1994/95 | Kevin Campbell | Arsenal | Man City |
| 2nd | 1997/98 | Faustino Asprilla | Newcastle | Sheff Wed |
| 2nd | 2017/18 | Alexandre Lacazette | Arsenal | Leicester |
| 3rd | 2018/19 | Paul Pogba | Man Utd | Leicester |
| 4th | 1996/97 | Stig Inge Bjornebye | Liverpool | Middlesbrough |
| 4th | 2002/03 | Michael Ricketts | Bolton | Fulham |
| 4th | 2008/09 | Samir Nasri | Arsenal | West Brom |
| 4th | 2023/24 | Erling Haaland | Man City | Burnley |
Haaland can console himself with the similarities between his start to this season and his beginning to last campaign, when he broke the Premier League record of goals in a single campaign with 36.
The Norwegian began the 2022/23 campaign with two goals away from home against the claret and blue shirts of West Ham United.
The early signs are that he will be chasing his own goal record this season.
