Manchester City (opens in a new tab) Boss Pep Guardiola joked he was annoyed with Erling Haaland on Saturday, after the Norwegian’s record streak of three consecutive hat-tricks at home in the Premier League came to an end.
City beat Southampton (opens in a new tab) 4-0 at the Etihad Stadium – becoming the first team since 1959 to score three or more goals in nine consecutive top-flight home games – but Haaland was on the scoresheet just once, scoring the fourth goal in his team.
And Guardiola sarcastically suggested he was ‘upset’ by the 22-year-old’s inability to score another hat-trick, also referring to a petition (opens in a new tab) calling for Haaland to be banned from football ‘because it’s just not fair’ how brilliant he has been.
Speaking after the win – which extended City’s league unbeaten streak to 21 matches – Guardiola said (opens in a new tab):
“I’m so mad at him. He hasn’t scored three goals that’s why the petition to kick him out of the Premier League is wrong [succeed].
“The expectations for him are so high that people expect him to score three or four goals in every game, but in the end he was there and he scored. He did it and we still got it. helped. He really played [well].”
Haaland’s almost bewildering prolific streak continues on and on: he now has up to 20 goals for the season in all competitions – in 13 appearances. He also set a new record for the fewest games played to reach 15 Premier League goals: nine – erasing the previous best of 19, held jointly by Ruud van Nistelrooy and Roberto Soldado.
Next up for City is a Champions League trip to Copenhagen – against whom Haaland picked up a brace this week – before heading to Anfield to face Liverpool. (opens in a new tab)one of only two teams to prevent Haaland from scoring this season (the Reds prevented him from winning the Community Shield, his City debut).
