It’s been 3 rounds and we still see the dominance of Man City, so how has their best striker performed compared to last season? The answer clearly, he is still a ‘beast’.

It appears there might have been a systematic glitch in the works.

Whenever Erling Haaland steps up for a penalty from 12 yards, the mental image of the Nordic sensation celebrating just moments after the referee’s shrill whistle is almost inevitable. Yet, at Bramall Lane on Sunday, the footballing gods were not on his side. Haaland expertly sent Sheffield United’s goalkeeper, Wes Foderingham, the wrong way, only to see his precise strike agonizingly collide with the post.

This marked the fourth unsuccessful penalty attempt in his career, with 36 others having met the back of the net.

The penalty miss was just the beginning of what could have been an incredibly frustrating afternoon for the Premier League record-breaker.

Sheffield United’s sturdy defense did an admirable job of preventing Haaland from asserting his dominance in the penalty area. When he did manage to find a gap within the first hour, Foderingham was there to deny Manchester City’s superstar forward.

Yet, as Sheffield United would soon discover, you can only contain Haaland for so long. The relentless pressure eventually paid off as the Norwegian striker nodded in the opening goal for the visitors, contributing to their thrilling 2-1 victory.

After setting the division’s scoring record ablaze during his debut season, Haaland undoubtedly has his sights set on surpassing his own achievements in the 2023/24 season. Let’s compare his performances in the first three games of this season to his record-breaking 2022/23 campaign.

Erling Haaland’s first three Premier League games – 2022/23 vs. 2023/24:

The goal-scoring patterns at the start of both seasons mirror each other. Haaland scored a pair of goals in the opening matches of both 2022/23 and 2023/24, and interestingly, these games were played away from home. However, both times, he encountered a goalless Matchday 2. On both occasions, though, he bounced back with a goal on Matchday 3.

Thus far, the City striker has matched his scoring tally through the first three games of the season. While the sample size is still small, he appears to be on track to score 38 Premier League goals this season, surpassing his single-season record of 36.

Other notable statistics show a similarity in his performance. Haaland has not been involved much in terms of creating goals and is yet to register an assist this season, similar to his performance last season where he registered an assist against Bournemouth on Matchday 2. His number of touches in the first three games also closely matches the previous season. By this point in 2022/23, he had 71 touches, compared to 63 this season.

However, the stats also highlight a more efficient Haaland at the start of his debut season. The striker managed to score three goals while playing 19 minutes less than his first three games in 2023/24. Additionally, he recorded an expected goals (xG) value 0.4 lower for his three strikes by this point last season.