Erling Haaland Completes Scoring Against All Premier League Teams

Erling Haaland ticked off another box on Sunday. Sunderland, finally, can be crossed off the list.

For 159 Premier League minutes against them, the Manchester City striker had swung and missed. Three shots, no goals, and a small but stubborn blank spot on an otherwise ruthless record. At the Etihad, with City edging a wild 5-3 contest, that irritation was starting to grow.

Then came the 81st minute.

Sliding in at the back post, Haaland turned in what looked like a routine finish, the kind he has made his trademark since arriving in England in August 2022. Routine, except for one thing: the flag. Just as in last week’s Manchester derby, he was forced to wait while VAR pored over the details.

The outcome was the same. Goal given. Sunderland beaten. Haaland’s personal collection complete.

Since his Premier League debut, the Norwegian has now scored against every one of the 25 teams he has faced in the competition. No gaps. No asterisks. Just a clean sweep.

A Personal Hit List

Some clubs have felt the full force of Haaland’s scoring habit. West Ham know that story too well: 11 goals in eight league meetings. Crystal Palace and Wolverhampton Wanderers are not far behind, both conceding 10 times to him, from six and seven games respectively.

Manchester United have been punished nine times in eight derbies. Fulham have shipped eight in eight. Everton and Brighton & Hove Albion have each conceded seven, from six and seven encounters.

Even the title heavyweights have not escaped. Arsenal have seen him score six times in eight league matches. Burnley, Brentford and Nottingham Forest have each given up five. Ipswich Town, Southampton, Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur and Bournemouth all sit in the four-goal bracket.

Liverpool have held him to three in six. Leicester City took three in just two games. Leeds United have conceded twice in three.

At the other end of the scale are the one-goal clubs: Sheffield United, Luton Town, Coventry City, Sunderland, Aston Villa and Newcastle United. For now, they can claim to have limited the damage. For now.

Hull on the Horizon

This perfect record comes with a small warning label. It only applies to the teams Haaland has already faced.

Hull City are next in line. He has never played them in the Premier League, but they are on the schedule in City’s final league game before Christmas, currently set for 19 December. If he features, one goal would extend the streak to 26 opponents faced, 26 scored against. Another line through another name.

History suggests you would not bet against it.

Kane, and a Different Kind of Perfection

Haaland is not the first to run the table on his Premier League opponents, but the list is short.

Harry Kane stands as the only other player to have played more than one Premier League match and scored against every team he faced. The former Tottenham Hotspur striker, now at Bayern Munich, found the net against all 32 different opponents he met in the English top flight.

He is close to repeating the trick in Germany. Since joining Bayern, the England captain has scored against 21 of the 22 teams he has faced in the Bundesliga, with only Schalke 04 keeping him out, and that from just a single game.

Four other players can technically claim a perfect record in the Premier League, though the sample size could hardly be smaller. Aidan Newhouse, Gary Bull, Chris David and Josh Harrop all scored in their only appearance in the competition, and so finished with a 100% record against every opponent they met.

Haaland’s body of work is already far more substantial than that.

Chasing Lampard’s Shadow

For all this efficiency, the 24-year-old still has ground to make up in one major category.

Frank Lampard holds the Premier League record for the most different teams scored against, with 39. Across his long career, the former Chelsea midfielder found a way to score against almost everyone he faced, edging Andrew Cole on 38 and pulling two clear of Jermain Defoe and Alan Shearer, who both finished on 37.

Haaland’s total of 25 opponents is impressive, but it underlines how far he still has to go if he wants that particular record. To catch Lampard, he will need longevity as well as ruthlessness, and a league that keeps refreshing itself with new faces for him to hunt.

For now, though, he walks off the Etihad pitch with another small milestone in his pocket and Hull City looming on the calendar.

Another team. Another test of a streak that shows no sign of slowing.