Erling Haaland can stall Liverpool FC's assault on Man City goalscoring records

There is a supreme irony in the fact that in the week when Manchester City announced the solution to their striking problem, they are close to becoming one of the top three goalscoring English teams of all time. The news about Erling Haaland arriving this summer was neatly wedged between a five-goal blitz of Newcastle and another five at Wolves, as if the current City squad are making the addition of a natural predator seem a luxury rather than a necessity.

Liverpool have been excited about the fact that their current team has broken their own club goalscoring record, having already bagged 142 in all competitions this season. With four games still to go, they are almost certain to break up the Blues ’ virtual monopoly on the English goalscoring records.

Goals matter in title races, not least this season, when the Blues' recent blitz of 22 in their last five games has seen them overhaul Liverpool's sizeable goal difference advantage. That could yet be crucial on the final day of the season.

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At present, City occupy five of the top six spots in the all-time list, headed by Pep Guardiola’s 2018-19 team which racked up a phenomenal 169 goals in all competitions. After that come Manuel Pellegrini’s 2013-14 title winners (156 goals), Guardiola’s 2019-20 side (149) and then the current team which has 145 with two games left to play.

Behind them are Guardiola’s 2017-18 team which equalled the 1956-57 Manchester United side’s 143 total, a record that stood for 57 years until Pellegrini's City broke it. Liverpool only need two more goals this season to break into that top six, but if Haaland can hit the ground running, as he did in Norwegian, Austrian and German football, the horizons