Jamie Carragher on EPL title fight: Arsenal should fear Haaland, not Liverpool

On 24 October, Carragher published an op-ed in The Telegraph, providing an in-depth analysis of this season's Premier League title race.

Arsenal should not be scared of Liverpool – they should fear Erling Haaland

Manchester City striker is greatest goalscorer we have seen in England and main threat to north London club’s hopes of ending title drought

Jamie Carragher

Arsenal came into this season worried about Liverpool being the major obstacle to ending a 21-year title wait. Now their biggest fear might be Erling Haaland.

Where Arsenal have the best squad among the contenders and Liverpool must fix well-documented issues, Manchester City have the most influential player and dynamic attacker. The Norwegian is the biggest reason why Pep Guardiola’s side have a great chance of reclaiming their crown. Without him, City’s most realistic target would be finishing in the top four.

City’s performance against Everton last weekend was relatively average for a Guardiola side. Haaland’s double elevated them to victory.

When a title-challenging side looks so dependent on one footballer, usually that is a source for concern. Guardiola will feel blessed. Haaland is so good he can be the difference every time he plays. He is the most lethal finisher of this generation, which is why he is already worthy of comparison with past legends.

I stand by my claim that Haaland is already the greatest goalscorer we have ever seen in England.

Those remarks sparked a debate given the City striker still has far to go to eclipse Alan Shearer’s 260 Premier League goals. With respect, drawing a line when the Premier League formed in 1992 is nonsense. Statistically, the best goalscorer of all time in this country is Jimmy Greaves, who scored a staggering 357 top-flight goals in 516 appearances. That’s the bar Haaland can reach should he remain at City for the duration of his contract.

Haaland, 25, is four short of a century of English league goals, on the brink of the landmark after 105 appearances. Greaves did it in 109 league games, Shearer reached treble figures in 125, Harry Kane in 141, Sergio Aguero 147 and Thierry Henry in 160. Based on his current ratio, Haaland will smash every record and has the potential to become the most prolific striker in the history of the game.

Already in the Rush and Henry category

Haaland’s amazing strike rate is enough to support my argument that it is a matter of when he gets there, not if, so long as he stays fit. But there is another criteria which is just as significant in assessing his place at No 1; the direct impact Haaland has had on his club’s expanding list of major trophies.

When comparing Haaland to other great No 9s who have excelled in this country, it must be recognised that his goals have been pivotal in winning the biggest honours, not just golden boots. He has won two Premier League titles, the Champions League and an FA Cup so far.

Haaland’s goals were key in Manchester City’s Treble-winning campaign in 2022-23 Credit: Getty Images/Michael Steele

This matters when making a judgment because it is a curiosity that there are many examples of sides having the luxury of a brilliant No 9 rewriting goalscoring records while their team fall short. This is often particularly true in the most exceptional goalscoring campaigns.

Gary Lineker reached the 40-goal milestone with Everton in 1985-86, but ended the season trophyless. Clive Allen and Kane did the same for Tottenham Hotspur, and Andy Cole in his first Premier League season with Newcastle United.

When a central striker is so dominant in a team’s goal statistics, it often leads to personal more than team accolades, trophies tending to be won when there is a broader spread of goalscorers.

Greaves never won the English title. Ironically, his most prolific season was for Chelsea in 1960-61. He scored 41 goals while at Stamford Bridge as his future club Tottenham Hotspur won the league and FA Cup double.

Haaland has the potential to emulate the great Jimmy Greaves Credit: Getty Images/Don Morley

Kane famously never won a trophy at his old club despite his brilliance and consistency, and Everton were champions the year before Lineker signed and 12 months after he was sold.

Shearer inspired Blackburn Rovers to the Premier League in 1995, but could not repeat the feat despite taking his prolific form to Newcastle United, the magnificent triumph at Ewood Park his sole major trophy.

Between them, Lineker, Shearer and Kane were the league’s top goalscorer on nine occasions, with just one trophy to show for it across those particular seasons.

That is why in the pantheon of the greats, the likes of Henry and Ian Rush – who are revered as part of legendary teams – can argue their goalscoring records carried more weight, albeit Henry was a much different profile of attacker to the others.

Haaland is already in the Rush and Henry category in terms of his goal output because of his medal collection, which is bound to get bigger.

Haaland is already on a par with Thierry Henry, who scored 175 goals and won two Premier League titles at Arsenal Credit: Getty Images/Richard Sellers

What is truly frightening is there is still so much more to come from Haaland. Ever since he joined City it has felt like elements of his game have been compromised. At Borussia Dortmund, Haaland was freakishly good at bullying defenders, embarrassing anyone he was in a sprint against as he was able to outpace and outmuscle markers before delivering a deadly finish. He scored against Brentford earlier this season demonstrating those skills.

Because City favour a more intricate, passing style, his role has been to provide the finishing touches in the penalty area rather than rely too much on his capacity to play as an old-school, battering ram goalscoring centre-forward, which he could do in a lesser side.

There are more dimensions to his game than City have needed him to demonstrate across his first three seasons.

My question has always been how much appetite Haaland himself has to showcase even more. This season may be providing the answer as, more than ever, he is looking like the complete goalscoring package, building on an already unreal level.

City might as well advertise their match tickets with the promise that if Haaland is playing, he will score.

Whenever he is one-on-one with a goalkeeper it seems certain he will be celebrating a second later, and you rarely see Haaland take unnecessary snapshots from daft angles.

The one major area of improvement for him is against the strongest teams, especially in the Champions League. Haaland scored twice against Real Madrid in last season’s Champions League knockout-round defeat, but until he defines the biggest games against clubs of such calibre in the latter stages of that competition, he may not get enough love beyond the Etihad.

In the last Ballon d’Or vote, Haaland was 26th on the list. That is ridiculous, even when accounting for City’s disappointing season.

Haaland finished second to Lionel Messi when City won the treble. Had he been a Real Madrid player missing out after scoring 52 goals in 53 games in a Champions League-winning season, there probably would have been a club boycott of the ceremony.

Everything we have seen so far suggests Haaland is on course to eclipse these numbers, with Dixie Dean’s record of 60 goals in a single campaign under threat.

There is also the mouth-watering prospect that Haaland will play in a major international tournament for the first time, with Norway on the brink of World Cup qualification. They would be a team to avoid in the United States because of their striker.

Haaland might be in the midst of one of the most extraordinary individual seasons ever for club and country.

Guardiola once called Spurs “the Harry Kane team”. If City win the title this season, he might appreciate the irony that this side will be remembered as the Erling Haaland one.