'I've never felt better', says Man City goal machine Haaland

Erling Haaland claimed he has "never felt better" after his brilliant start to the 2025-26 campaign for Manchester City. 

Haaland's ninth-minute goal proved to be the difference as City saw off Brentford 1-0 on Sunday.

Pep Guardiola has now claimed victories in 250 of his 349 Premier League games with City (D50 L49), becoming the quickest manager in English top-flight history to reach 250 wins.

Haaland has found the back of the net in nine straight games for club and country (six goals in two matches for Norway, 10 in seven for City), marking the longest scoring streak of his top-flight and international career.

"I have never felt better than I do now," Haaland said when speaking to Sky Sports. 

"It is about preparation, getting ready for the games. You can be physically ready but you need to be mentally ready."

Haaland also feels that becoming a father has made him even more deadly in front of goal.

"With a kid it makes me even better because I disconnect more than ever – I don't think about football at all," he said.

"When you are young you think of this and that and maybe worry about things but when I get home I relax even more. I think I need to give a shout-out to my son."

Haaland's strike ensured that City have found the net more than any other Premier League team in 2025, with 55 goals, and have also matched Liverpool for the most league wins this calendar year, with 16.

The 25-year-old has now scored at 22 of the 23 stadiums he has played at in the Premier League (failing only at Anfield), the highest ratio of any player to appear at more than one ground in the competition's history (96%).

Haaland is the second Premier League player to score 15 goals across all competitions in a season before the end of October twice (2022-23 and 2025-26), along with Alan Shearer in 1992-93 (October 6) and 1995-96 (October 28) for Blackburn Rovers.

"[I said to Haaland] keep going. He has been so important to us this season," Guardiola explained.

"The wingers have to score more goals, they have to create more, finish more. Step by step, we will do it."

Meanwhile, Brentford went goalless for the first time in 14 Premier League matches, ending their longest-ever scoring run in the competition, which had begun after a 0-0 draw with Chelsea in April.

"Probably in the first half we were a bit too passive, going through the motions, letting them have too much space," Brentford captain Nathan Collins told Sky Sports. 

"They were getting too close to our box, in and around it. In the second half we were a bit more aggressive on the press, got higher up, pressed them higher.

"When they did have those spells, it was around the halfway line and that's fine. Created one or two chances, on the day you need to take that to get a result here."