Erling Haaland continued his sensational start to life in the Premier League as he made it back-to-back hat-tricks in Manchester City’s 6-0 demolition of Nottingham Forest.
Haaland hit a thrilling treble as City came from 2-0 down to beat Crystal Palace 4-2 at the weekend but he made sure this was a more straightforward affair, scoring a perfect hat-trick with his left foot, right foot and head inside 38 minutes.
The 22-year-old’s nine goals in his first five Premier League appearances is a new competition record, surpassing the eight scored by both Micky Quinn and City’s all-time leading goalscorer Sergio Aguero.
Joao Cancelo scored a sumptuous fourth in the 50th minute before Argentina forward Julian Alvarez marked his full City debut with a second-half brace to complete the rout.
Phil Foden set up Haaland’s first goal against Palace and the duo were at it again to give Forest a mountain to climb in the 12th minute. The England attacker floated an inviting ball from the left that Haaland prodded home after muscling his way around visiting captain Joe Worrall.
Brennan Johnson headed Forest’s best chance of the night into the side netting five minutes later and the game already looked to be up midway through the half when Dean Henderson miscued a clearance straight to Bernado Silva and Foden teed up Haaland for a tap-in.
The Etihad Stadium rose to toast another hat trick from its new hero when Cancelo’s outside-of-the-boot cross found Foden. He headed it across to John Stones, who nodded towards the goalmouth for the insatiable Haaland to do the rest.
Cancelo probably netted the goal of the night when Forest gave him far too much time and space to find the top corner on the end of Silva’s pass.
Alvarez impressed all evening playing off Haaland and he was alert to pounce with a precise finish across Henderson at the end of a typical marathon spell of City possession.
As if to show there is more than one player looking to emulate Aguero’s feats in sky blue right now, Alvarez crashed his second into the roof off the net after substitutes Kevin De Bruyne and Riyad Mahrez stung Forest on the counter-attack three minutes from time.
