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Goal machine Haaland eclipses Ronaldo in Man City romp
Steve Douglas • December 21st, 2025 7:32 am
Erling Haaland reacts after missing a chance - but he still ended up with two goals for Man City | Photo: AP
Erling Haaland continues to motor along at better than a goal a game for Manchester City in the Premier League, with West Ham becoming the Norwegian's latest victims.
Haaland scored in each half to move to 19 goals in 17 matches this campaign and also set up Tijjani Reijnders' goal in a 3-0 win at Etihad Stadium on Saturday (Sunday NZ time).
The victory lifted City into first place, temporarily a point ahead of Arsenal before the deposed leaders' match at Everton later on Saturday.
Haaland has 38 goals in a combined 28 games for club and country in what is shaping up to be the most prolific season of his career. Injury permitting, the season will also end in him going to his first World Cup with Norway.
His double gave him 104 in the Premier League, one more than Cristiano Ronaldo having played 122 games fewer than the former Manchester United icon. Haaland also moved alongside Didier Drogba's 104 for Chelsea.
He scored at the second attempt from Phil Foden's cross to give City a fifth-minute lead and took advantage of a defensive mix-up to make it 3-0 in the 69th.
In between, he slipped a short pass to Reijnders, who took a touch and rifled a shot into the roof of the net in the 38th minute.
Nick Woltemade celebrates his double in Newcastle's draw with Chelsea | Photo: AP
What a difference a week made for Nick Woltemade. Last weekend, he scored an own-goal to consign Newcastle to a derby loss at fierce north-east rivals Sunderland.
Six days later, he netted twice in the opening 20 minutes to give his team a fast start against Chelsea. The visitors recovered, though, to draw 2-2 with a free-kick goal from Reece James and Joao Pedro's equaliser coming off a rare assist from goalkeeper Robert Sanchez's long clearance.
Chelsea remained fourth after winning only one of their last five games in the league.
Basement club Wolves remained without a win and on just two points after losing at home to Brentford 2-0, with Keane Lewis-Potter scoring both the visitors' goals in the second half.
It ensured Wolves tied Sheffield United's 2020-21 record of 17 games without a win from the start of a Premier League season.
Bournemouth winger Antoine Semenyo is reportedly a target of some of the Premier League's biggest teams, including Man City and Manchester United, and he underlined his worth by curling home his team's goal in a 1-1 draw with Burnley, who ended a seven-match losing run with a 90th-minute Armando Broja equaliser.
Sunderland are doing much better since promotion, their 0-0 draw at Brighton putting them fifth.
- AP
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