Erling Haaland put himself in the driving seat for claiming successive Castrol Golden Boots as his four goals against Wolverhampton Wanderers extended his lead in the 2023/24 Premier League goalscoring chart this season to five.
Shortly after Newcastle United’s Alexander Isak had joined Chelsea midfielder Cole Palmer on 20 goals, one behind Haaland, the Manchester City striker registered three goals inside the opening 45 minutes and another in the second period of the 5-1 win over Wolves to go five goals clear.
Golden Boot: How things stand
| Players | Goals | Remaining fixtures |
|---|---|---|
| Erling Haaland | 25 | FUL (A), TOT (A), WHU (H) |
| Cole Palmer | 20 | WHU (H), NFO (A), BHA (A), BOU (H) |
| Alexander Isak | 20 | BHA (H), MUN (A), BRE (A) |
| Ollie Watkins | 19 | BHA (A), LIV (H), CRY (A) |
| Dominic Solanke | 18 | BRE (H), CHE (A) |
| Mohamed Salah | 17 | TOT (H), AVL (A), WOL (H) |
It was Haaland’s first multi-goal match in the Premier League since scoring twice at home to Everton in February.
Only former Man City striker Gabriel Jesus has registered four goals in a Premier League match earlier than the 54th minute in which Haaland struck. Jesus beat his successor by a minute against Watford in April 2022.
Haaland became only the third player to register two first-half hat-tricks in the competition, having done so against Nottingham Forest last season. Andrew Cole and Michael Owen are the others.
It was also Haaland’s sixth Premier League hat-trick in only his second season in England and after only 62 matches.
It moves him one hat-trick ahead of Premier League goalscoring legends such as Cole, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Robin van Persie and Dimitar Berbatov, while moving alongside Luis Suarez.
But he is only halfway to catching the leader, another Man City goalscoring legend, Sergio Aguero.
Most Premier League hat-tricks
| Player | Hat-tricks | Matches |
| Sergio Aguero | 12 | 275 |
|---|---|---|
| Alan Shearer | 11 | 441 |
| Robbie Fowler | 9 | 379 |
| Michael Owen | 8 | 326 |
| Harry Kane | 8 | 320 |
| Thierry Henry | 8 | 258 |
| Wayne Rooney | 7 | 491 |
| Luis Suarez | 6 | 110 |
| Erling Haaland | 6 | 63 |