Manchester City’s Erling Haaland notched his 44th Premier League goal over the weekend as the reigning champions defeated Nottingham Forest at the Etihad Stadium.

Since his arrival in English football last summer, Haaland has achieved unprecedented success, tallying 36 Premier League goals during the 2022/23 season, setting a new single-season scoring record in the post-1992 era.

In total, the Norwegian striker bagged 52 goals in all competitions, breaking City’s club record for goals in a single campaign, which was previously held by Tommy Johnson with 38 goals in 1928/29.

In the current 2023/24 season, Haaland has already notched eight Premier League goals in just six games. He is the clear favorite to win the Golden Boot again and, based on his current form, is poised to surpass the 36 goals he scored in the division last season, potentially setting yet another new record.

The next major goal for Haaland is to reach 50 Premier League goals. While reaching this milestone is not uncommon, as 123 players in the Premier League era have achieved it, including Danny Murphy (50), Andrew Johnson (51), Trevor Sinclair (52), Steven Fletcher (53), and Andy Carroll (54), what sets Haaland apart is the speed at which he is approaching this milestone.

Given his prolific scoring rate, Haaland could feasibly score his 50th Premier League goal in the next few weeks, potentially breaking the record by achieving it in 20 fewer games than the current record holder.

Currently, the record for the fewest number of games to score 50 Premier League goals belongs to Andrew Cole, who achieved it in 65 games while playing for Newcastle and Manchester United. This is slightly quicker than Alan Shearer, who reached his first 50 Premier League goals in 66 games with Blackburn. Ruud van Nistelrooy accomplished this in 68 games for Manchester United, while Fernando Torres and Mohamed Salah each took 72 games to reach 50 Premier League goals for Liverpool.

Haaland, however, has scored his first 44 goals in just 41 appearances, averaging an impressive 1.07 goals per game. If he continues at this rate, he could reach the 50-goal mark in his 45th Premier League game. Assuming he plays in every league match, his 45th appearance would coincide with the upcoming Manchester derby at Old Trafford on October 29.

Even if it doesn’t happen quite that quickly, it is highly likely that Haaland will break the 50-goal speed record at some point due to his exceptional performance. He would need to score five or fewer goals in his next 24 Premier League games to fail to break the record, which seems unlikely given his remarkable scoring ability.