Erling Haaland believes he is in the form of his life

Dubai: Manchester City striker Erling Haaland believes he’s playing the best football of his life. The Norwegian goal machine netted the winner against Brentford in the Premier League, taking his tally to 18 goals in just 11 games to start the season. That sparked the question: is this Haaland's best-ever run?

“You can say so,” Haaland said. “I’ve never felt better than I do now.”

Let’s break down the numbers behind his remarkable form — and how it compares to other elite strikers.

Is this Haaland's best goal-scoring run?

Throughout his senior career — spanning Molde, Salzburg, Borussia Dortmund, and now Manchester City — Haaland has never scored more than 18 goals across an 11-game stretch in a single season.

He has hit that exact number three times before, all during his debut campaign at City (2022–23):

He has achieved that exact same tally, though, on three previous occasions. And they came in the same season.

In the 2022-23 campaign - his first at City - Haaland had 11-game stretches from Aug. 21-Oct. 5 and Aug. 27-Oct. 8 where he scored 18 goals for club and country. Those runs included hat tricks in three consecutive home league games.

Later that season, he again netted 18 goals in an 11-game run from March 11-May 3 - a streak that included five goals in a Champions League match against Leipzig.

In his current run, Haaland also has a five-goal match - for Norway against Moldova - as well as four doubles. He has nine Premier League goals so far, which is more than nine teams in the division.

What about Haaland's run of consecutive scoring games?

This is where Haaland has broken his personal record.

His goal against Brentford meant he has now scored in nine straight matches for club and country, and he's never done that before.

His previous best streak was eight games in a row - from August to October in 2021 when he played for Dortmund, and from August to September in 2022 soon after joining City.

What's the Premier League record for scoring in consecutive games?

The only game in which Haaland failed to score this season was at home to Tottenham in the Premier League on Aug. 23, when City lost 2-0.

He has netted in all five of City's league games since, but has a way to go to break the record for scoring in consecutive games.

That is held by Jamie Vardy, who scored in 11 straight matches in the Premier League from August to November en route to Leicester winning the title in fairytale fashion.

How does Haaland compare to the world's other top strikers this season?

It hasn't just been a strong start to the season for Haaland.

Harry Kane has begun even better, scoring 19 goals in his first 11 games for Bayern Munich and England combined - starting with one in the German Super Cup. The England captain has failed to score in just one of those matches.

As for Kylian Mbappé, he has 16 goals in his opening 12 games for Real Madrid and France combined. He has also failed to score in only one of those matches.

With inputs from AP