Data Debrief: Haaland on target, but not at his best

Manchester City battled their way back to the Premier League summit as Erling Haaland netted the only goal in a 1-0 victory over Southampton at the Etihad Stadium.

Haaland was on target early on with a clinical finish from inside the area, though City were unusually profligate in front of goal for the rest of Saturday’s contest.

Cameron Archer missed the visitors’ best chance with an effort that struck the woodwork just before the interval.

Haaland passed up two fantastic chances to make the scoreline more comfortable after the break, though City ultimately got the job done to move top ahead of Sunday’s clash between Arsenal and Liverpool.

Southampton, meanwhile, are bottom of the pile, with just one point from their opening nine games. 

Data Debrief: Haaland on target, but not at his best

Haaland scored his 74th Premier League goal, 32 more than any other player since he joined the division in 2022. Today was just his third strike in a 1-0 victory, however.

But the Norwegian should have had more. He ended the contest having had eight shots, though only four were on target, contributing a whopping expected goals (xG) tally of 2.16 to City's 2.73 total. 

Pep Guardiola's side extended their unbeaten Premier League run to 32 games, with 28 of those coming in 2024 – only Chelsea in 2005 (29) have had a longer unbeaten run from the start of a calendar year in the competition’s history.

For Southampton, meanwhile, they are now winless in their last 22 Premier League games (D5 L17), the outright third longest such run in the competition’s history after Derby County (32 in 2007-08) and Sunderland (26 between 2002 and 2005).