Erling Haaland: How does he compare with the Premier League elite?

Where does Erling Haaland rank among the Premier League’s greatest strikers?

Erling Haaland is already being hailed as one of the best Premier League strikers of all time, having broken the 29-year-old record of most goals in a single season.

The Manchester City striker netted his 35th league goal of a stellar debut campaign against West Ham, surpassing the previous mark of 34 that was jointly held by Andy Cole and Alan Shearer.

To get a sense of how the Norwegian compares with his predecessors, we have compiled a list of the greatest marksmen to grace the English top flight.

Who are the greatest Premier League strikers of all time?

Rather than just listing the Premier League’s highest scorers, we have ranked players with at least 30 goals according to their strike rate.

Unsurprisingly, Haaland’s 35 goals in 32 appearances put him way out in front, with only nine other strikers managing to average more than a goal in every other game.

Arsenal’s Thierry Henry has the second best goals-per-game ratio, with 175 in 258 matches, ahead of Haaland’s predecessor at Manchester City, Sergio Aguero, who netted 184 times in 275 appearances.

Tottenham’s all-time top scorer Harry Kane is next, with a ratio of 0.66 goals per game. Kane is one of three players with more than 200 Premier League goals, along with Alan Shearer (260) – who ranks eighth in terms of strike rate – and Wayne Rooney (208) who fails to make the top 10.

Former Manchester United striker Ruud van Nistelrooy and ex-Liverpool man Luis Suarez are fifth and sixth respectively, having spent relatively short but prolific periods in the English top flight.

The Reds’ Mohamed Salah comes in seventh, while Ian Wright and Robin van Persie – who spent the bulk of their Premier League careers at Arsenal – round out the top 10.

Who is the most consistent scorer?

Haaland has scored in a remarkable 22 separate matches to date and is the only player on our list to have netted in more than half of his appearances.

He is unlikely to maintain this consistency, even playing in an outstanding City team. Van Nistelrooy made a similarly explosive start to his Premier League career, netting a total of 23 goals across 18 of his first 32 appearances for Manchester United. The Dutchman’s scoring rate dropped off after that, although he still ranks second by this measure having scored in 75 of his 150 games.

Meanwhile, Van Persie and Suarez both struggled to make an instant impact in the top flight, with just six and nine goals respectively in their first 32 matches. While their output improved substantially, they were less likely than their counterparts to score in any given game.

Who is the best provider?

With seven Premier League assists already this season, Haaland has proved he is more than just a goal poacher. The 22-year-old striker turned provider in City’s biggest game of the season against Arsenal, setting up both of Kevin De Bruyne’s goals in a 4-1 win.

However, it is the Gunners’ great Thierry Henry who ranks top for assists among the league’s best scorers. The Frenchman teed up a total of 74 goals for his Arsenal team-mates and remains the only player in Premier League history to score 20 goals and register 20 assists in the same season (2002-03).

At the other end of the spectrum, Van Nistelrooy was not exactly renowned for his link-up play and his paltry tally of 14 assists in 150 games is testament to that.

Who has the most accolades?

Henry is the only man in Premier League history to win four Golden Boots, with Salah, Kane and Shearer tied on three apiece. The former Arsenal man also collected two Player of the Season awards in his time on these shores, which is the joint-most alongside Cristiano Ronaldo, Nemanja Vidic and De Bruyne.

When Haaland inevitably ends this season as top scorer, he will have as many Golden Boots as ex-City striker Aguero, whose only win in a decade at the Etihad Stadium came in 2014-15.

Wright is the only player in our list who failed to win the award, although he did finish as top scorer in the First Division in 1991-92, which was the final season before it was rebranded as the Premier League.

Who is the biggest talisman?

Haaland has scored a higher percentage of Manchester City’s goals in matches where he has featured than any of his goalscoring rivals past or present.

The Norwegian is ahead of former Arsenal and West Ham striker Wright, who spent six Premier League seasons leading the line for a Gunners team that had a reputation for securing low-scoring victories.

Van Persie – who played for free-scoring Arsenal and Manchester United – ranks bottom by this measure, behind Salah who spent a number of seasons playing alongside Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino as part of a potent Liverpool front three.

Who plays in the best team?

Most of the elite strikers in our list played in winning teams, with seven out of 10 players enjoying a win rate in excess of 50 per cent.

Wright, Shearer and Suarez are the exceptions, making their excellent goalscoring records all the more impressive.

Manchester City duo Haaland and Aguero have benefited from playing in Pep Guardiola’s all-conquering sides, while Liverpool’s Salah can be equally thankful for the influence of Jurgen Klopp.