Erling Haaland Scores Against Every Premier League Team
Erling Haaland finally ticked off the last name on his Premier League hit list.
The Manchester City striker’s late strike in Sunday’s wild 5-3 win over Sunderland at the Etihad Stadium means he has now scored against every one of the 25 teams he has faced in the competition since arriving in August 2022.
It didn’t come easily. And it clearly mattered.
Sunderland, at last
Sunderland were the outlier. The anomaly. The team that had somehow kept Haaland quiet.
Across his first two Premier League games against them, he’d gone 159 minutes without a goal, managing just three shots. For a forward who has torn through almost everyone else, it was beginning to look like an odd blind spot.
On Sunday, as the minutes ticked away and the goals flew in at both ends, that record looked like it might drag on. Then, in the 81st minute, Haaland did what Haaland usually does.
A slide at the back post. A touch from close range. Net bulging. Collection complete.
Not quite. He had to wait.
Just as in last week’s Manchester derby, the celebrations were cut short by an offside flag and a VAR check. Just as in last week’s Manchester derby, the decision was overturned and the goal stood. Sunderland were added to the list. All 25 teams faced, all 25 scored against.
A ruthless roll call
The numbers behind that record underline just how relentless he has been.
- 11 goals vs West Ham (8 games)
- 10 vs Crystal Palace (6), Wolverhampton Wanderers (7)
- 9 vs Manchester United (8)
- 8 vs Fulham (8)
- 7 vs Everton (6), Brighton & Hove Albion (7)
- 6 vs Arsenal (8)
- 5 vs Burnley (4), Brentford (7), Nottingham Forest (8)
- 4 vs Ipswich Town (2), Southampton (4), Chelsea (8), Tottenham Hotspur (8), Bournemouth (9)
- 3 vs Leicester City (2), Liverpool (6)
- 2 vs Leeds United (3)
- 1 vs Sheffield United (1), Luton Town (1), Coventry City (1), Sunderland (3), Aston Villa (5), Newcastle United (7)
From West Ham to Newcastle United, from title rivals to relegation scrappers, the pattern repeats: if Haaland plays you often enough, he usually finds you.
The next box to tick
For now, his record is perfect: every Premier League opponent faced, scored against.
But it is only “for now”.
Hull City are waiting. Haaland has never faced them in the Premier League, and City are scheduled to meet the Tigers on 19 December in their final league match before Christmas. If he plays and scores, the collection stretches to 26 out of 26. One more team, one more chance to keep the 100% record alive.
Kane, Lampard and the bigger picture
Haaland is not alone in this particular club, but it is a very small one.
Harry Kane is the only other player to have played more than one Premier League game and scored against every side he faced. The former Tottenham Hotspur striker, now at Bayern Munich, found the net against all 32 different opponents he came up against in the Premier League.
He is close to doing something similar in Germany. Since joining Bayern, Kane has scored against 21 of the 22 teams he has faced in the Bundesliga, with only Schalke 04 – after just one game – yet to concede to him.
There is an even more niche group. Four players have a perfect record in the Premier League against every team they faced, but each of them played only a single match in the competition: Aidan Newhouse, Gary Bull, Chris David and Josh Harrop. One game, one opponent, one goal. Perfect, but fleeting.
Haaland’s sample size is larger, his dominance more sustained. Still, in one key area he is a long way from the summit.
Frank Lampard holds the Premier League record for scoring against the most different clubs: 39 in total. That puts him one clear of Andrew Cole (38) and two ahead of both Jermain Defoe (37) and Alan Shearer (37), the league’s all-time leading scorer.
Haaland’s list stands at 25 and counting. The question now is not whether he can score against everyone he faces. He’s already shown he can do that. The real intrigue lies elsewhere.
How many names will he add before he’s done with this league?
