With his hat-trick
against Ipswich Town last week, Haaland increased his 2024–25 goal tally to
seven goals at the London Stadium.
This season,
he has scored more goals in the Premier League alone than any other player for
any club.
After a
Ruben Dias own goal had momentarily pulled West Ham level, the Norwegian
produced a beautiful one-on-one finish for the first goal and then unleashed a
powerful strike for his second on the half-hour mark.
After the
intermission, Mohammed Kudus came dangerously close to tying the score again
for West Ham, but with seven minutes remaining, Haaland completed a breakaway
finish to seal the victory.
With nine
points from 3 games, the win retains City atop the early-season standings.
Under Julen Lopetegui, West Ham is in 14th place with three points from three
games.
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How the game played out
After giving up a header early in the game,
Haland made amends by scoring after Bernardo Silva stole the ball and threaded
it through for him to score after just ten minutes.
As City
dominated, Kevin De Bruyne struck the post, but with just 19 minutes remaining,
West Ham unexpectedly tied the score. When Jarrod Bowen reached the byline to
cross, his shot struck Dias and slid past Ederson.
At the
half-hour mark, though, City retook the lead as Rico Lewis set up Haaland for a
spectacular finish that beat Alphonse Areola.
After the
break, West Ham had another opportunity to counterattack, but Kudus could only
fire his effort off the near post after darting down the left.
With seven
minutes remaining, Haaland darted onto a through pass from Matheus Nunes and
finished well over replacement goalie Lukasz Fabianski to give City a two-goal
lead.
Ederson
prevented West Ham's last-second curling attempt from going through Crysencio
Summerville by pushing it onto a post and out of danger.
Haaland is en route.
Haaland has
developed a reputation as a quick starter since joining the Premier League in
2022, and the 2024–2025 season has been no exception.
Following an
early sighter that saw him head Silva's dinked cross off target, Haaland was at
his most ruthless at the London Stadium, fresh off scoring a hat-trick in last
week's thrilling triumph against Ipswich.
When Silva
released him one-on-one after ten minutes, there was never any doubt in my mind
that he would convert. His second goal was particularly impressive; Areola had
no chance as the striker fired into the upper-right corner without a backlift.
His third,
though, killed any lingering thoughts of a West Ham comeback with a touch of
polish not usually associated with the Norwegian powerhouse.
Rivals of
City should be extremely wary of Haaland once more this season.
His seven
goals are the most any player has ever scored in a team's opening three Premier
League games of a season. He is the first player to score a hat-trick in two of
a team's first three league matches of the season since Paul Jewell for
Bradford in 1994–95.
Having
scored three goals thus far in the 2022–2023 and 2023–2024 seasons, he has
easily enjoyed his greatest start to a Premier League season after three games.
The goal machine that is Pep Guardiola is not slowing down.
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