Haaland Hits 100 Non-Penalty Premier League Goals in Record 139 Games as City Beat Ipswich
Erling Haaland scored twice to reach 100 non-penalty Premier League goals in a record 139 appearances as Manchester City beat Ipswich Town 3-2 at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday, October 17. The win was City's seventh in seven league games, a club-record start to a Premier League season, and it keeps them six points clear of Arsenal.
Phil Foden opened the scoring for City, and Haaland then took over. He headed in a Mateo Kovacic cross in the 34th minute for his 99th non-penalty goal, and scored his 100th in the 69th minute to make it 3-1. The previous fastest to the mark was Alan Shearer, who needed 150 appearances in 1996. Haaland's tally is level with Didier Drogba's, and he has scored a non-penalty goal every 117 minutes in the Premier League, ahead of Sergio Agüero's 127. He also had a hat-trick goal disallowed by VAR late on.
The win was not a comfortable one. City had 19 shots, six on target, and 3.53 expected goals to Ipswich's 1.66. Ipswich, coached by Gary O'Neil, finished strongly. Zian Flemming scored a penalty in the 90th minute, and the referee added 12 minutes of stoppage time, but City held on.
Haaland has now scored in six consecutive league games and in eight consecutive matches for City, with 12 goals in that run. His brace took him to eight league goals this season, three clear in the Golden Boot race. He has 120 Premier League goals in total.
Enzo Maresca became the first manager in Premier League history to win his first seven league games with a single club. After the match, he said that City had suffered four or five injury concerns in about ten minutes. He named Haaland (who limped off at full time), Mateo Kovacic, Matheus Nunes, Nico O'Reilly and Antoine Semenyo. Haaland, Kovacic and Nunes told him they were fine. O'Reilly, who was replaced on the hour, has the same back problem that affected him in the warm-up against Coventry. Semenyo, who appeared to hurt his knee after coming on, is the one player City must wait to assess.
Maresca also praised his players for the way they have handled the pressure that comes with the club being found guilty of financial rule breaches.