More records are in store after Erling Haaland’s sixth hat-trick of the season

And Erling Haaland’s sixth hat-trick of the season against Burnley on Saturday took him to 42 goals for Manchester City.

Here, PNA looks at the significance of his performance and the records certainly have in store.

this is 40

Haaland is already City’s most prolific goalscorer in a single season, beating the previous record of 38 in all competitions set by Tommy Johnson in 1928-29 thanks to his five-goal run last Tuesday against RB Leipzig.

He is the sixth Premier League player to score 40 or more goals in a season, with the number 44 – scored by Ruud van Nistelrooy in 2002-03 and matched by Mohamed Salah in 2017-18 – just two goals away. He has already played with Cristiano Ronaldo in the 2007-08 season and reformed Andy Cole in 1993-94 and Harry Kane in 2017-18.

That record is sure to go down, along with Salah’s record of 32 goals in a 38-game Premier League season, and Cole’s and Alan Shearer’s 34 in 42 appearances – meaning the more interesting question is, how far can he go? Haaland total goals?

City will have 11 league games remaining, with the FA Cup semi-finals and Champions League quarter-finals reaching no more than two and five matches respectively in those competitions and 18 in total.

At Haaland’s current scoring rates – and if he plays as many games as possible until late May and possibly even June – he will miss out on the record books.

He averaged 1.08 goals per game in the Premier League, with 28 goals in 26 games, and an even more than 1.14 in all competitions with 42 goals in 37.

The latter has been swelled by his stellar week and will certainly settle down a bit but both will add around 12 to his league tally, increasing the likelihood of his first 40 goals of the Premier League era if he remains ever-present.

Even more exciting is that his 18 complete appearances in all competitions at an average of 1.14 goals will net him another 20 goals – taking his tally for the season beyond 60.

Hat-trick tournaments

Haaland has six hat-tricks this season across all competitions, more than all Premier League players combined.

All six made it to Etihad Stadium, compared to only five matches in which he failed to score.

Manchester City 4 Crystal Palace 2, August 27

Trailing 2-0 at half-time with a John Stones own goal and a Joachim Andersen header, City pulled one back through Bernardo Silva before Haaland took the lead with three goals in 20 minutes.

Manchester City 6 Nottingham Forest 0, Aug. 31

Just four days later, he put Forest to the sword with a perfect hat-trick, guiding them to nine goals in their first five Premier League matches.

Manchester City 6 Manchester United 3, October 2

Haaland and Phil Foden both scored hat-tricks as City produced a derby success that was more one-sided than what showed in the final result, following a late Anthony Martial brace for United. This is Haaland’s third hat-trick in consecutive home matches in the English Premier League, and it was interrupted by the international break.

Manchester City 3 Wolverhampton 0, January 22

Three in 14 minutes either side of the first half Haaland has managed 30 goals for the season in all competitions and 25 in the league.

Manchester City 7 RB Leipzig 0, March 14

Haaland scored his second perfect hat-trick of the season at half-time and finished with five goals in 35 minutes before being substituted for his night work well and truly.

Manchester City 6 Burnley 0, March 18

Once again, Haaland treated City’s home fans twice in the space of a week, scoring twice in three first-half minutes, finishing the job before the hour mark, and earning a well-deserved rest on the bench.