Erling Haaland’s goals are easing pressure on three Man City players

Erling Haaland has scored 19 goals in 12 Manchester City appearances. Even the most optimistic Blues fans wouldn’t have imagined such a sentence being written when the towering striker arrived at the Etihad in July.

That number of matches reduces to 11 for those who disregard the Community Shield as a ‘proper’ competitive fixture – just one of two games he has blanked in this season, the 4-0 win over Bournemouth being the other. His goals are firing City to comfortable wins, including Sunday’s 6-3 dismantling of Manchester United in which Haaland netted his third (yes, third) hat-trick for the champions just two months since the season began.

They are also helping his club in another aspect too. Haaland has debunked the theory that foreign imports need time to bed into the Premier League and has already struck up a fantastic relationship with his teammates.

READ MORE: Guardiola explains why Haaland came off at half-time vs Copenhagen

His magnet-like ability to fit the net is easing pressure on his first-team colleagues, allowing them to play their natural game without the pressure of having to beat the goalkeeper themselves. This applies to Kevin De Bruyne — not that pressure ever bothered or hindered him.

The Belgian netted 19 goals last term — the highest number in a single season for City — as the team continued to operate without a recognised No.9. He has not had the burden of trying to thunder home a strike this time around though thanks to Haaland’s haul. Instead, he has preferred to tee up his Norwegian friend and has overall clocked 10 assists this campaign while scoring only once.

Riyad Mahrez finished as City’s top scorer with 24 goals last season. Pep Guardiola has publicly urged the Algerian to improve his