In case you hadn’t noticed, Erling Haaland has virtually secured this year’s golden boot in just six matches wearing sky blue and barring an unexpected injury, he shows no signs of slowing down.
The 22-year-old Norwegian has already bagged 10 goals and an assist in the league and a baker’s dozen in all competitions for Manchester City this season.
And we’re only in September.
Every type of goal – and plenty of them
So far, his highlights include scoring a game-winning brace against West Ham, as well as back-to-back hattricks against Palace and Forest. The latter was both a traditional perfect hattrick (left foot, right, header) and a ‘German perfect hattrick’ – all three goals scored uninterrupted by any other player.
Oh, and he also scored each of them in consecutive halves across the two games if there’s a word for that – he essentially managed the most perfect pair of trios you’ll probably see for some time.
Even when doesn’t manage multiple goals, he produces moments of match-winning brilliance like this:
He’s going to score a lot of those finishes by the way.
Most others would find it hard to even reach that ball and even if they could, very few are clinical, composed and creative enough to convert it into a goal.
The stats speak for themselves
With that in mind, if he’s already this prolific so early on in the season and he’s able to add even more improvised goals like this to his tally when most others wouldn’t even attempt, it’s fair to say that he’s going to pull even further ahead of his goalscoring rivals than he already is quite quickly.
To put things into perspective, even with an xG (expected goals) rating of 1.19 goals per every 90 -minutes of football, he is already exceeding his own stats, averaging an xG of 1.86 per 90 according to FotMob.
Put even simpler, this means he’s scoring a goal around 48.5 minutes – that’s just in the Premier League alone.
If you extrapolate his numbers to take into account the three Champions League goals he’s already scored and presuming City make it to the final of the FA and Carabao Cup this year – and it looks very well they might – then the projected figures are verging on scary.
How many could Haaland theoretically score?
Were he to continue at this rate for as many games possible, he could theoretically end the season on a grand total of 102 goals – with 63 of those goals coming in the Premier League. That’s based on his average 80 or so minutes per game he’s currently on the pitch for – and it’s even more if he played the full 90 for the remaining 32 games.
Erling Haaland has virtually secured this year’s golden boot in just six matches / Credit: Man City (via Twitter)
Now, chances are he is going to a few games without a goal at some point (well, you’d hope so, for everyone else’s sake), but when you consider the sheer raft of talent and regular service from the rest of the City squad, it’s entirely possible he could break all kinds of records.
Essentially, whatever number he ends up finishing on is going to come down to whether Pep decides to rest him or whether or not he stays injury free, as he has been known to suffer a knock or two.
If left entirely up to him, we can only imagine what magic he produces.
Either way, whether you’re a City fan or not, it’s going to be genuinely riveting to see just how many goals he’ll score this season.
Streamer AngryGinge ‘arrested and banned’ from Silvestone at the British GP
Danny Jones
Popular Manc influencer, ‘AngryGinge’, was arrested, fined and ultimately banned from Silverstone at this year’s British GP.
The Salford-born Twitch streamer, YouTuber and social media personality (real name Morgan Burtwhistle) was detained at the circuit after being arrested on suspicion of criminal damage.
Ginge recently starred in Soccer Aid 2025 and is a well-known face both on the internet and in the sporting world, regularly working in and around football, and is an avid Manchester United – even featuring in the club’s third kit launch video last year.
The 23-year-old and two other fellow streamers, ‘Chazza’ and ‘Samham’, were accused of criminal damage after sitting in an F1 car whilst recording around the Silverstone complex.
AngryGinge returned to streaming after being detained by police for 15 hours
The streamer and several friends were arrested for climbing into a display F1 car at the British Grand Prix pic.twitter.com/WDSYb6MVtj
“On Friday, July 4, NP received a report that a classic Formula 1 car on display at Silverstone Circuit during the British Grand Prix event had sustained several thousands of pounds worth of damage, which was alleged to have been caused by someone accessing the display stand and climbing into the vehicle.
“Officers carried out initial inquiries, and suspects were identified. Three men, aged 23, 25 and 27, were arrested on suspicion of causing criminal damage to a vehicle and taken into police custody.
“Following a thorough investigation into the circumstances of the incident, all three men were released with no further action.”
Burtwhistle went into more detail on the incident on socials, explaining that the trio were taken away in handcuffs and “locked up” for several hours – 15 hours, according to SamHam (Samuel Imie).
All three individuals deny causing any damage to the racecar, even despite users sharing clips from the livestream footage captured for the Red Bull online Content on the day that many argue incriminates them, or at least sounds like it – we’ll let you watch and decide for yourselves.
Ginge himself went on to detail that ridculousness of the situation, explaining how he was effectively detained for watching someone else climb into the vehicle.
He’ll be dining out in this one for some time, you can be sure of that.
He’s literally a brands dream isn’t he 😂 so quick and smart with it
Featured Images — Soccer Aid/angryginge13 (screenshot via Twitch)/Samham (via X)
Sport
Boxing legend Ricky Hatton is coming out of retirement after more than a decade
Danny Jones
Mancunian and British boxing legend Ricky Hatton MBE is coming out of retirement after more than a decade for his first competitive fight in 13 long years.
This is sure to be one to watch.
The Stockport-born and Hattersley-raised fighter first retired back in 2011, but did flirt with a comeback a year later in what turned out to be a one-off fight and defeat to 35-year-old Ukrainian welterweight, Vyacheslav Senchenko.
‘Hitman’ Hatton also got back in the ring for an exhibition match against Marco Antonio Barrera in 2022, enduring eight two-minute rounds after a decade away from fighting, but now he’ll be undertaking an official fight over in the United Arab Emirates.
Lacing up his gloves at 46 years old, Hatton will be facing fellow veteran Eisa Al Dah (same age), who was the first professional boxer in the UAE.
The ‘Pride of Hyde’ may have been out of the competitive sporting sphere for a while, but he’s still remained an active figure in the boxing world.
In addition to training his son, Campbell, who has followed in his father’s fighting footsteps, Hatton has continued to coach other young boxing talents from his gym in Tameside, including John Hedges and Chloe Watson.
Campbell, 24, has won 14 of his 16 fights, losing just twice since he began in 2021.
Meanwhile, his dad – who still boasts a record of 45 victories from 48 matches, 32 of which were by knockout – will be once again focusing on getting himself back in fighting shape for the Dubai bout.
The local athlete has done plenty to dispel the old jabs of ‘Ricky Fatton’ in recent times, mind you, having taken his talents as a once-promising young footballer to play in the Manchester Remembers charity match, as well as the aforementioned Barrera exhibition.
Set for this winter, Ricky Hatton will face fellow veteran Eisa Al Dah in a middleweight contest on Friday, 2 December, telling national media via video call in the recent press conference that confirmed he would be coming out of retirement: “What you’re trying to do there for boxing in Dubai is fantastic.”
Meanwhile, Al Dah added: “It will be a true fight, true action. And I will do my best, because everybody in the UAE and the Gulf, they will watch this fight. The place will be sold out, and it will be watched around the world.”
Will those Haymakers still hit like they used to? Well shall see before the end of the year.
Danny Jones -
16th September 2022 
