A fully rested Erling Haaland could make it even harder for any Premier League team to challenge Manchester City’s top spot this season.
Haaland scored his seventh Premier League hat trick in a 4-1 victory over promoted Ipswich on Saturday, bringing his total to four goals in the first two games of the season.
City manager Pep Guardiola said Haaland’s early success is partly because he had the summer off after Norway did not qualify for the European Championship.
“Last season he struggled a lot, especially at the beginning,” Guardiola said. “He felt tired and had niggles most of the time. This time with the rest, with no Euros, he has arrived with a good vibe. The numbers are unbelievable.”
Haaland has been the Premier League’s top scorer in each of his two seasons at City, which has won the last four titles, but his goal count dropped from 36 in 2022-23 to 27 last season. He now has 10 hat tricks in all competitions for City.
After scoring the first goal in a 2-0 win at Chelsea last weekend, he quickly scored twice in the first half to help City turn a 1-0 deficit into a 3-1 lead against Ipswich in under four minutes.
Haaland first equalized with a penalty in the 12th minute and made it 3-1 in the 16th after running onto a perfect pass from Kevin De Bruyne and going around goalkeeper Arijanet Muric.
De Bruyne had scored the second goal into an empty net after City winger Savinho took the ball from Muric, and Haaland completed his hat trick with a shot from outside the area in the 88th minute.
