“Energetic” Erling Haaland scores another hat-trick and sends Manchester City to the top

Erling Haaland fired Manchester City to the top of the Premier League with a second consecutive hat-trick in a 3-1 win at West Ham on Saturday. The Norwegian beat Ipswich last weekend and added another three to take his tally to 70 goals in 69 Premier League games since joining City from Borussia Dortmund. City have begun their title defence in threatening fashion for those hoping to displace Pep Guardiola's side after they won the league four seasons in a row.

The English champions are so far the only team to have won all three opening games before the upcoming international break, thanks in no small part to Haaland's electrifying start.

“No words for him. All we can do is make him play better and better and give him as many balls as possible in the box,” Guardiola said.

The City boss once again had the luxury of leaving Rodri, John Stones and Kyle Walker on the bench after their efforts in reaching the Euro 2024 final, while Phil Foden missed his second consecutive game through illness.

Unlike most of his teammates who played at the European Championships and the Copa America, Haaland had no international matches scheduled this summer and appears as refreshed as he is relentless.

“I feel good, I'm full of energy. I had a long holiday and a long preseason,” said Haaland.

“Only footballers know how important it is to take a break.

“You have to calm your body and mind because the season is long. It's not as easy as people think. I feel fresh and that's the most important thing.”

After scoring in the opening weekend win over Chelsea and scoring his tenth hat-trick for City against Ipswich, Haaland now has a Premier League record of seven goals in the first three games of a season.

West Ham were responsible for the opening goal themselves, as they lost possession deep in their own half of the pitch and Bernardo Silva passed the ball to Haaland, who calmly slotted the ball past Alphonse Areola and into the net.

City seemed to have the deciding factor early on when Areola parried a shot from Kevin De Bruyne before the Belgian hit the crossbar.

But West Ham's first targeted attack allowed the equalizer thanks to a supporting hand from the visitors.

At the end of an impressive end-to-end move, Jarrod Bowen burst into City's penalty area and Ruben Dias directed his low cross into his own net.

With a clever move and a powerful finish, City quickly regained control and regained their lead.

Rico Lewis' pass found Haaland, who chose his spot and shot the ball high past Areola into the goal.

Haaland should also have provided an assist before half-time when Lewis shot over the goal after his clever clearance.

City left the door open in the second half as they failed to score the decisive third goal and they could have been punished for that.

In a lightning-fast counterattack, Bowen played the ball to Mohammed Kudus, who fired a powerful shot that hit the post.

However, Haaland fittingly had the last word and secured the three points.

The 24-year-old was played by Matheus Nunes and confidently shot the ball over substitute goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski.

And the experienced Polish goalkeeper had to intervene to prevent Haaland from scoring a fourth goal in injury time.

After West Ham’s second defeat in three games, Julen Lopetegui’s team slips to 14th place.

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