Manchester City’s ridiculously lethal goalscorer, Erling Braut Haaland, is on course to smash a 27-year-old Premier League record and we’re only in January.
Haaland continues to confound and redefine what we think is statistically possible for a professional footballer as he bagged yet another hattrick in Manchester City‘s 3-0 win over Wolves on Sunday, breaking the record for the most goals scored at the Etihad in a single season.
Having notched 25 goals in 19 appearances in the league (he could seriously get over 50 goals this season), Haaland is also well on course to break another impressive record set by the division’s all-time leading goalscorer, Alan Shearer.
Now just one behind matching the Newcastle and England legend, reaching the landmark in fewer games than Shearer and some of the English top-flight’s most prolific goalscorers, he only needs to net two more trios in a single game to break the record for the most hattricks in a Premier League season.
Again, we’re not even out of January yet… It’s almost laughable at this point.
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In the league alone, Haaland is currently averaging a goal every 62 minutes and only stays on the pitch for around 82 minutes per match, so you can only imagine what numbers he might manage if he were to get a full 90 minutes every week.
With that being said, it’s no wonder that not only is he on course to surpass Shearer for the most hattricks, but with a quarter century already to his name — barring a serious derailment through injury — it’s almost inevitable that he will beat his record for the most goals scored in a Premier League season.
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Shearer actually shares the record along with another famous nine in former Manchester United and fellow Newcastle striker, Andy Cole, both of whom managed 34 goals in 1993/94 and 94/95 and campaigns, respectively.
Still just 22 years old, already has a laundry list of records to his name, including beating Lionel Messi to become the fastest player to reach 25 goals in all competitions. He did it with five games to spare.
Talk about keeping good company.
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We all know the Norwegian phenomenon is nailed on for the golden boot this year, the question is how many other records is he going to break along the way.
While Arsenal might still be clinging on to the top spot, we wouldn’t bet against Haaland, Pep and the rest of that City squad doing what they always do: winning titles.
Details released of Andy Burnham’s meetings with Manchester City owners while Mayor
Emily Sergeant
Details of Andy Burnham’s meetings with Manchester City owners during his tenure as Mayor of Greater Manchester have been released.
In case you need bringing up to speed on the situation a little first, Manchester City was found guilty back in September all of its charges related to the Premier League’s financial rules over a nine-season period, and on top of that, was also found guilty of the majority of charges in relation to its failure to co-operate with the League’s investigation.
According to the Premier League, the independent Commission found that Manchester City had arranged so-called ‘sham’ commercial deals with a number of its sponsors.
These were part of a disguised funding scheme – with those sponsors only required to pay a portion of the relevant sponsorship fees.
The remainder was then funded by Abu Dhabi United Group Investment & Development Ltd (ADUG), which owned the club.
The Commission also concluded, as quoted by the Premier League, that the club had ‘made concerted efforts to stop and frustrate the Premier League investigation’.
Within the past week or so, it has since come to light that now-Prime Minister Andy Burnham had dealings with Manchester City during his tenure as Greater Manchester Mayor, and Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) has now issued a public statement, giving details on the matter and what these ‘dealings’ entailed.
A spokesperson for GMCA confirmed that Burnham had a ‘formal meeting’ with Man City Chairman, Khaldoon Al Mubarak, back in October 2021.
The statement reads in full: “In October 2021, Andy Burnham, in his role as Mayor of Greater Manchester, had a formal meeting with Khaldoon Al Mubarak at the UK Government’s Global Investment Summit arranged by the Department for International Trade.
“In his capacity as Mayor, he was a guest of Manchester City FC at home matches on a small number of occasions, including attending Vincent Kompany’s testimonial match in September 2019, where he met the Chairman informally in the stands. These have been declared in the usual way.
“Also during his time as Mayor, representatives of Greater Manchester sporting clubs would routinely join business delegations as part of Mayoral international visits.
“This included representatives from Manchester United travelling to Austin and Dublin, Lancashire Cricket Club joining a delegation to India, and Manchester City FC staff supporting visits to China and Japan.”
Featured Image – Lauren Hurley / Number 10 Downing Street (Press Image via Flickr)
Sport
Multiple arrests made for ‘tragedy chanting’ and police officer assault as Man City defeated Liverpool
Emily Sergeant
Multiple people were arrested over the weekend as Manchester City defeated Liverpool in a Premier League clash.
Merseyside Police have confirmed that a total of 10 people were arrested during the policing operation at Liverpool’s home ground of Anfield as they hosted Manchester City on Sunday 11 October.
One man was arrested on suspicion of assaulting a police constable, five were on suspicion of tragedy chanting, one on suspicion of being drunk and disorderly, two for affray, and one on suspicion of throwing items onto the pitch.
Police are now appealing to the public, and are particularly looking to speak to witnesses of the assault of the officer.
At around 6:35pm, as fans left the stadium, a police officer sustained a ‘serious facial injury’ during the arrest of a man on Anfield Road, and was subsequently taken to hospital for treatment but is now recovering at home.
Investigating officers are now conducting enquiries, speaking to witnesses, and analysing CCTV and camera phone footage.
Chief Inspector Leanne Hobin said it’s ‘extremely disappointing’ that an officer has sustained a serious injury while carrying out their duty.
“I hope the arrests send a clear message and act as a deterrent to others,” Chief Inspector Hobin continued. “Anyone who engages in this abhorrent behaviour risks ending up in custody and getting a criminal record.
“Despite the actions of a few, the overwhelming majority of the 60,000 fans in attendance behaved well and I want to thank them for their co-operation.”
Manchester City ended up defeated Liverpool 3-0 during the Premier League clash at Anfield.
Danny Jones -
24th January 2023 
