Erling Haaland Scores Against Every Premier League Team

Erling Haaland ticked off another box on Sunday afternoon. One more opponent filed away, one more statistic bent to his will.

With his late strike in Manchester City’s wild 5-3 win over Sunderland at the Etihad, Haaland has now scored against every single Premier League team he’s faced – 25 out of 25 since arriving in August 2022.

It didn’t come easily. Until the 81st minute, Sunderland had been his blind spot.

Sunderland, finally solved

Across his first two league meetings with Sunderland, Haaland had drawn a blank: three shots, 159 minutes, no goal, a rare quirk in a record otherwise littered with victims. On Sunday, as the game opened up and the legs tired, the Norwegian refused to let that continue.

He slid in at the back post to turn the ball home, a classic Haaland finish built on timing and ruthlessness. Then came the wait.

The flag went up. VAR stepped in. For the second weekend running, just as in the Manchester derby, Haaland stood in limbo while the technology pored over the details of his movement. Once again, the verdict went his way. Goal given. Collection complete.

For now.

City’s No. 9 has faced 25 different Premier League clubs. He has scored against all of them. The spread of damage is remarkable:

• 11 goals: West Ham (8 games)
• 10 goals: Crystal Palace (6), Wolverhampton Wanderers (7)
• 9 goals: Manchester United (8)
• 8 goals: Fulham (8)
• 7 goals: Everton (6), Brighton & Hove Albion (7)
• 6 goals: Arsenal (8)
• 5 goals: Burnley (4), Brentford (7), Nottingham Forest (8)
• 4 goals: Ipswich Town (2), Southampton (4), Chelsea (8), Tottenham Hotspur (8), Bournemouth (9)
• 3 goals: Leicester City (2), Liverpool (6)
• 2 goals: Leeds United (3)
• 1 goal: Sheffield United (1), Luton Town (1), Coventry City (1), Sunderland (3), Aston Villa (5), Newcastle United (7)

From West Ham to Newcastle, from title rivals to relegation candidates, he has left a mark on everyone.

Chasing a perfect set

The perfection is fragile. Hull City are coming.

Haaland has never faced Hull in the Premier League. That changes, if he’s selected, in City’s final league fixture before Christmas on 19 December. Score there, and the numbers move again: 26 opponents, 26 scored against. The 100% record survives.

Miss out, or misfire, and the sequence breaks. That’s the thin line he now walks.

Elite company – and a long road ahead

Only one other player with more than a single Premier League appearance has managed to score against every club they faced in the competition: Harry Kane.

The former Tottenham Hotspur striker, now leading the line for Bayern Munich, found the net against all 32 Premier League opponents he came up against. In Germany, he is close to repeating the trick, with goals against 21 of the 22 teams he has faced in the Bundesliga, Schalke 04 the only side to keep him out so far.

Four other names technically boast a perfect record in England’s top flight, though their sample size is tiny. Aidan Newhouse, Gary Bull, Chris David and Josh Harrop each played just one Premier League match and scored in it, finishing with a spotless – if brief – ledger against their opponents.

Haaland’s canvas is far bigger, but the mountain in front of him is, too.

Frank Lampard owns the record for the most different clubs scored against in Premier League history, with 39. Andrew Cole follows on 38, while Jermain Defoe and all-time leading Premier League scorer Alan Shearer are just behind on 37.

Haaland has time, numbers, and a system built around him. He has 25 already and a league full of fixtures still to come.

Hull are next in line. How many more badges will he cross off before he’s done?