Erling Haaland scored yet another hat-trick as Manchester City maintained their perfect start to the Premier League season with a 3-1 win at West Ham United.
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After scoring a treble against Ipswich Town last week, Haaland took his tally to seven goals for 2024/25 at the London Stadium.
It means he has now scored more Premier League goals alone this season than any club have.
The Norwegian produced a composed one-on-one finish for the opener before arrowing a powerful strike home for his second on the half-hour mark, after a Ruben Dias own goal had briefly dragged West Ham level.
Mohammed Kudus went close to a second West Ham equaliser after the interval, but Haaland wrapped up the points with another breakaway finish with seven minutes to play.
The victory keeps City top of the early-season standings with nine points from nine available, while West Ham are 14th with three points from three games under Julen Lopetegui.
How the match unfolded
Haaland was wayward with an early header but redeemed himself after just 10 minutes, slotting home after Bernardo Silva stole possession to thread him through on goal.
Kevin De Bruyne then rattled the post as City dominated, but West Ham levelled out of nowhere with 19 minutes gone. Jarrod Bowen got to the byline to cross, with his delivery hitting Dias and creeping beyond Ederson.
City were back in the ascendancy on the half-hour mark, though, with Haaland putting a brilliant finish past Alphonse Areola after being teed up by Rico Lewis.
West Ham almost struck on the counter-attack again after the restart, but Kudus could only blast his effort off the near post after scampering away down the left.
City got their two-goal cushion with seven minutes remaining, as Haaland darted onto Matheus Nunes' through-ball before clipping his finish over substitute goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski.
West Ham almost pulled one back through Crysencio Summerville at the death, but Ederson pushed his curling effort onto a post and to safety.
Haaland on a mission
Since arriving in the Premier League in 2022, Haaland has earned a reputation as a fast starter, and the 2024/25 campaign has been no different.
Fresh from scoring a hat-trick in last week's comeback victory over Ipswich, Haaland was at his ruthless best at the London Stadium following an early sighter that saw him head Silva's dinked cross off target.
There was never any doubt that he would convert when released one-on-one by Silva after 10 minutes. His second goal was something special, with the striker firing into the top-right corner with no backlift to give Areola no chance.
His third, meanwhile, showed a touch of class not always associated with the Norwegian powerhouse, a cultured dink killing any faint hopes of a West Ham comeback.
City's rivals have every reason to be fearful of Haaland again this season.
He is the first player to score a hat-trick in two of a team's first three league matches in a season since Paul Jewell for Bradford in 1994/95, while his seven goals are the most a player has ever scored in a team's first three Premier League matches of a season.
He has made what is comfortably his best start to a Premier League season after three games, having had three goals at this stage of both the 2022/23 and 2023/24 campaigns. Pep Guardiola's goal machine shows no signs of slowing down.
| Position Pos | Club | Played Pl | GD | Points Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Liverpool
LIV
|
11 | +15 | 28 |
| 2 |
Man City
MCI
|
11 | +9 | 23 |
| 3 |
Chelsea
CHE
|
11 | +8 | 19 |
| 4 |
Arsenal
ARS
|
11 | +6 | 19 |
| 5 |
Nott'm Forest
NFO
|
11 | +5 | 19 |
| 6 |
Brighton
BHA
|
11 | +4 | 19 |
West Ham come up short
Despite a second defeat in two home league matches under Lopetegui, there were positives for West Ham to take on Saturday.
The hosts started brightly and had City on the back foot prior to Haaland's opener.
Even at 2-1 down early in the second half, West Ham had their moments on the break, not least when Kudus showed electric pace to escape his marker and leave the goal frame shaking with a powerful effort.
City did pen their hosts back for long periods and deserved the win, but Lopetegui will not have been too disappointed by his side's showing.
Club reports
West Ham report | Man City report
What the managers said
Julen Lopetegui: "It is true City is one of the best teams around the world for sure, in history, but it is true too that in the second half we have been very close to a draw. I think we have played one very good second half. The start has been very good for us too, but against this kind of team if you make a mistake they don't forgive. This is the difference they have, one of the differences. A little mistake they punish you, they punish us. One bad moment for us."
Pep Guardiola: "No words for him [Haaland]. All we can do is make him play better and better and give him as many balls as possible to the box. It's what we have to do. We are there and we added quality. This is a team. When you have to run backward, no one asks who has to do it. Everyone has to. When we see Erling doing that, it is fantastic."
Next Premier League fixtures
Key facts
Manchester City are unbeaten in all 17 of their Premier League games against West Ham under Pep Guardiola (W15 D2), the most a manager has faced a specific opponent without ever losing in the competition’s history.
Haaland has scored seven goals in the first three Premier League games of 2024/25, more than any other player in a team’s opening three games of a season.
Haaland has scored more than once in 26 per cent of his Premier League games (18/69), scoring 10 braces and eight hat-tricks, the highest such ratio in the competition’s history.
West Ham are winless in 10 Premier League home games against Man City (D3 L7), only against Man Utd between February 1994 and November 2005 have they been on a longer such run without victory against a single opponent (11 games).