By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Erling Haaland produced the 100th goal contribution of his Premier League career by scoring for Manchester City against Brighton on Saturday.
Haaland converted a penalty kick in the 11th minute of the game to net his 84th league goal since joining City from Borussia Dortmund in 2022.
That, added to his 16 Premier League assists, saw Haaland become the first player to be directly involved in 100 goals before reaching 100 appearances.
The previous record-holder was Alan Shearer, who took 100 matches to reach that level.
Shearer had played a few seasons in the old First Division that do not count towards this record.
Sergio Aguero, Thierry Henry, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, Les Ferdinand and Matt le Tissier all managed it in their fourth seasons.
Eric Cantona, Mohamed Salah (including two with Chelsea) and Andy Cole took into their fifth campaign – with Harry Kane in his sixth – including the first season he only played once in.
Despite Haaland getting his side off to a fine start against Brighton, City dropped points at home for the sixth time in the Premier League this season.
Brighton equalised midway through the first half when Pervis Estupinan beat Stefan Ortega with a well-placed free-kick.
City retook the lead before half-time thanks to a fine strike by Omar Marmoush from 23 yards but Brighton walked away from the Etihad Stadium with a 2-2 draw after an Abdukodir Khusanov own goal.
Speaking to BBC Match of the Day after Saturday’s game, City boss Pep Guardiola said: It was a good game. A tight game. I know how difficult it is to make the process which we’re in now.
‘The players gave everything. We take the point and we keep going. Of course, I have confidence and I always have. The young players played good. All the defenders were so clever. We were close, but unfortunately we couldn’t do it.’
Premier League Results
West Ham 1-1 Everton
Ipswich 2-4 Nottingham Forest
Southampton 1-2 Wolves
Brentford 2-1 Bournemouth.