For West Ham United fans haunted by past trauma, the mere mention of Erling Haaland and Manchester City is enough to bring about a nasty dose of PTSD.
Only Wayne Rooney [14], Michael Owen [13], and funnily enough Callum Wilson [12] have scored more Premier League goals against the Hammers than Pep Guardiola’s blonde bomber.
Erling Haaland’s eleven strikes have come in just seven meetings with West Ham United. He is also just one away from hitting 30 club goals for a seventh successive season.
How would YOU set the Hammers up against Man City? ⚒️ v 🩵
Three at the back? Another start for Kante and Pablo?
Now, reeling off a list of quite fearsome, nerve-jangling statistics will not make the Hammers faithful feel any more confident ahead of Saturday’s 8pm kick-off at the London Stadium. Haaland is back at Pep Guardiola’s disposal, too, following a recent injury.
Yet, there is one quite staggering statistic that could give West Ham a glimmer of hope.
Erling Haaland in dreadful form as West Ham United welcome Manchester City
Believe it or not, in his last 17 Manchester City appearances, Haaland has scored only two non-penalty goals. Yes, really.
A run such as this is unheard of for a centre-forward who has become the living embodiment of the word ‘consistency’ ever since bursting onto the scene with Red Bull Salzburg in 2018.
“You could say I haven’t scored enough goals since the beginning of the year, and I know I have to improve,” an accepting Haaland told reporters in February. “I know I have to be sharper and improve in all these areas, and that’s something I need to work on.
“I have to keep going because that’s what everyone deserves and expects. I don’t want to talk about why I haven’t performed.
“I don’t think there’s any excuse.”
Typically, a rare barren spell came immediately on the back of Haaland hitting a brace against Nuno Espirito Santo’s side in December. He has played 17 matches in all competitions since then, only scoring from open play against Galatasaray and Fulham.
Add in a pair of penalties against Brighton and Liverpool, and his current tally stands at four goals in 17 matches across nearly three months’ worth of action.
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Haaland and Man City ’embarrassing’ in Real Madrid loss
Haaland was utterly anonymous as Real Madrid cruised past Pep Guardiola and co at the Santiago Bernabeu on Wednesday.
Tottenham legend Jurgen Klinsmann labelled the Norwegian’s performance ’embarrassing’ on ESPN, though a centre-forward of Haaland’s ilk is only really as good as the chances created for him.
While Pablo Felipe and Taty Castellanos have brought energy and aggression to West Ham’s frontline – if not exactly a glut of goals – Haaland seldom touches the ball unless he’s slamming it into the goal.
So the test facing the Hammers, if they are to make it 15 matches from 18 without an open play goal for Haaland, is to shut down the supply line. That may be easier said than done, of course.
Nuno talked up the ‘enormous amount of solutions and talented players’ available to Guardiola at his pre-match press conference; Rayan Cherki, Antoine Semenyo, Savinho, Jeremy Doku and Bernardo Silva, so on.
Still, and this entire article could look very silly come 10pm on Saturday night, Haaland’s most uncharacteristic of slumps is at least something for West Ham to hang their hat on.
And, don’t worry, we wrote this with one hand superglued to the nearest wooden surface we could find…
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