Erling Haaland smashed Alan Shearer's record by reaching 100 Premier League goals faster than anyone in the competition's history - bringing up his century of strikes in Manchester City's win at Fulham on Tuesday.

The 25-year-old Norwegian, who could have represented England at international level, has had a scintillating season so far by scoring 20 goals in 19 games in all competitions.

Haaland had unusually come into the Fulham game on the back of three consecutive blanks in front of goal, in defeats by Newcastle and Bayer Leverkusen and the win against Leeds at the weekend.

But he got back among the goals with a lovely finish, steering home Jeremy Doku's cross in the first half of a thrilling encounter that ended in a 5-4 win for Manchester City.

"A proud moment," Haaland told BBC Match of the Day afterwards.

"The 100 club is a huge thing. To do it this quickly is amazing. I'm proud, I'm happy.

"I've said it many times - a striker for City should score a lot of goals. That's my job, that's what I try to do. And I'm not bad at it!"

'Incredible' Haaland surprises even Guardiola

It was goal number 100 for Haaland on Tuesday, but goals 101 and 102 could have come just as easily.

He hit the post in both halves during a strong attacking display as he also chipped in with two assists.

Haaland leads the top flight's scoring charts, having netted 15 times so far this season, with Brentford's Igor Thiago the nearest challenger with 11 for the Bees.

Since joining from Borussia Dortmund in 2022, Haaland has chalked up a string of feats, and to beat Shearer's long-standing record by reaching 100 goals in only 111 games ranks highly on his list of achievements.

Shearer took 124 games to reach that mark, but Haaland has a long way to go if he is to match the former England captain's total of 260 goals in the competition that launched in 1992-93 after breaking away from the English Football League.

Haaland performed a 'robot' celebration earlier this season, and City's reliance on their goal machine is highlighted by the fact that he has scored 15 of his side's 32 league goals this term.

"Congratulations, it is incredible," Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola said of Haaland's achievement.

"What can I say? Today he was outstanding. He was unbelievable and got a fantastic goal.

"Enjoy it, hopefully he is hungry to continue getting goals for this club."

Haaland's incredible numbers

Erling Haaland's ascent to becoming the fastest player in Premier League history to reach 100 goals has seemed virtually inevitable since his debut campaign in England.

That was in 2022-23, when he scored 36 times – a competition record for a single season – in just 33 starts.

Haaland has subsequently reached a century of Premier League goals in just 111 appearances, breaking the existing record of Shearer by 13 matches.

Haaland joined Manchester City for £51m in the summer of 2022 following two and a half seasons at Bundesliga club Borussia Dortmund, where he scored 62 goals in 67 league outings.

The 25-year-old's strike rate since moving to the Premier League far outstrips that of any of the elite goalscorers to have so far played in the competition.

He is also responsible for reaching double figures for goals in a Premier League campaign in the fewest appearances, doing so more quickly in three separate seasons than any other striker.

Reaching 100 Premier League goals has also come at a poignant point of Haaland's career - just over a year ago, the City striker was said by some to be losing his touch.

City's 2-0 Premier League defeat at Liverpool on 1 December 2024, during which Haaland cut an isolated figure, began a sequence in which he scored just once in seven appearances in all competitions – the leanest run of his City career in a single campaign to date.

The Norway international would go on to record his lowest tally of goals since moving to England from the Bundesliga – but it's perhaps telling that Haaland's "worst" season still incorporated scoring 34 times for his club in all competitions, including 22 in 31 Premier League fixtures.

So far in 2025-26, Haaland has scored 15 goals in 14 top-flight appearances and 20 in just 19 matches overall.

Given the former Molde and Salzburg striker's City contract runs until 2034, it may be only a matter of time until he passes Shearer's Premier League record goals tally of 260. (BBC)

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