- 17 hours ago
Haaland and the ten fastest players to reach 50 Premier League goals
Erling Haaland became the fastest ever player to reach 50 Premier League goals when he netted for Manchester City against Liverpool, achieving the feat in just 48 games.
The Norwegian has shattered numerous goalscoring records since joining City last summer from Dortmund for €60 million, having scored 36 goals in his debut season – more than any other player in a single campaign.
Haaland achieved the record by opening the scoring in the first half for City against Jurgen Klopp’s side at the Etihad Stadium to mark his 14th league goal of the season in 13 games.
The 23-year-old’s next target could be Alan Shearer’s record of reaching 100 goals in 124 games, with Haaland having 75 games to score his next half-century in order to become the fastest player to achieve the milestone.
Who are the ten fastest players to reach 50 Premier League goals?
Haaland broke Andy Cole’s record which had been set in 1995 when the former England international scored five times for Manchester United in a 9-0 win over Ipswich, giving him his first 50 goals in the Premier League in 65 games.
Shearer, perhaps unsurprisingly as the Premier League’s all-time record goalscorer, was just one game slower than Cole, scoring his 50th goal in his 66th game in 1994 while playing for Blackburn against Everton.
Prior to Haaland, the fastest player to reach 50 goals in the 21st century was Ruud van Nistelrooy, who set a then-Premier League record by scoring in his tenth successive game, with his strike for Man Utd against Newcastle in 2003 coming in his 68th match.
Liverpool stars current and old also feature on the list, with Fernando Torres scoring a 90th minute winner against Aston Villa for his 50th goal in his 72nd game in 2009, while Mohamed Salah took the same amount of time to reach the milestone ten years after the Spaniard in 2019, netting against Crystal Palace.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored his 50th goal in his 79th game while playing for Arsenal in 2020, with Sergio Aguero (81), Thierry Henry (83) and Kevin Phillips rounding off the top ten.
The fastest players to reach 50 Premier League goals
Player | Team | Number of games |
---|---|---|
Erling Haaland | Man City | 48 |
Andy Cole | Man Utd | 65 |
Alan Shearer | Blackburn | 66 |
Ruud van Nistelrooy | Man Utd | 68 |
Fernando Torres | Liverpool | 72 |
Mohamed Salah | Liverpool | 72 |
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang | Arsenal | 79 |
Sergio Aguero | Man City | 81 |
Thierry Henry | Arsenal | 83 |
Kevin Phillips | Sunderland | 83 |