“There’s no central defender who can stop him, not even with a gun” - Guardiola makes emphatic Erling Haaland claim after successive hat-tricks
Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has waxed lyrical of his striker Erling Haaland after the Norwegian's hat-trick helped City floor West Ham United 3-1 in the Premier League on Saturday.
The former Borussia Dortmund hitman opened the scoring inside 10 minutes before adding a second before half-time after the Hammers had restored parity. Haaland then completed his second straight Premier League hat-trick seven minutes from time to extend the Cityzens' perfect start to the season.
Having also struck thrice in the 4-1 comeback home win over newly promoted Ipswich Town last week, Haaland is the first Premier League player in 30 years (since Paul Jewel of Bradford City in 1994-95) to strike two hat-tricks in the first three games of a season.
Scoring seven of City's nine league goals this season, Haaland has outscored all 19 Premier League teams as he becomes the first player to strike seven times in the first three games.
As per transfer guru Fabrizio Romano, Guardiola termed Haaland an irresistible force that caannot be stopped:
“Erling Haaland, he’s just unstoppable. There is no central defender who can stop him, not even with a gun. It's impossible; he's so powerful!”.
With his eighth Premier League hat-trick, Haaland is up to fourth in the list of most hat-tricks in the competition, with the list headed by former City man Sergio Aguero (12).
What else did Pep Guardiola say about Erling Haaland?
Since arriving from Borussia Dortmund in the summer of 2022, Erling Haaland has gone from strength to strength at Manchester City. His hat-trick against West Ham puts his City tally at 97 goals and 14 assists in 102 games across competitions.
That includes 70 goals in 69 Premier League outings, with City winning the competition in the last two seasons, with Haaland winning the Golden Boot on both occasions.
Following Haaland's three-goal effort against the Hammers at the London Stadium, Guardiola said (as per BBC):
"No words for him. All we can do is make him play better and better and give him as many balls as possible to the box. It's what we have to do."
"He scored three goals today, but he didn't lose one ball. Today is one of the games where he has played the best in all situations. When you see the games and see what we want to do, he understands because he is a smart guy."
Haaland and Co. will next be in action at home to Brentford in the league on September 14.