This year, Erling Haaland isn’t the only Man City player attempting to break goalscoring records.
The top two scores in both the Premier League and the Women’s Super League are both strikers for Manchester City. In his debut season on British soil, Erling Haaland has scored 22 goals in 16 appearances across all competitions, 17 of which come from 11 Premier League games.
Khadija “Bunny” Shaw played in 17 WSL games last season for the first time, scoring nine goals. Shaw, though, has cemented her spot in City’s starting XI at the start of the 2022–23 season after Ellen White’s retirement, and she seems to be scoring nonstop. Her goal total to date—seven goals in six games across all competitions, including five goals in four games for the WSL—has drawn significant notice.
Shaw scored twice in as many games despite Real Madrid’s Caroline Weir eliminating her previous team from the UEFA Women’s Champions League, while Haaland has five goals in four games in the men’s tournament.
The young Norwegian striker is on the verge of smashing records after scoring 17 goals in only 11 League games for City. He scored 27 goals for Dortmund in the Bundesliga back in 2021 and 22 last season.
He now leads the Premier League in goals, shots on goal, and goals scored with the foot but is second in goals scored with the head, with three compared to Harry Kane’s six at the age of 22.
The benchmark is Andy Cole’s 34 goals in 40 appearances for Newcastle United in the 1993–94 season. The year after, Alan Shearer scored 34 goals as well, however he participated in two more games than Cole.
As of August 2022, Vivianne Miedema of Arsenal leads all female players in goals scored with 74. However, in the Women’s Super League previous season, Sam Kerr of Chelsea scored 20 goals in 22 games, while Miedema finished second with 14.
Shaw has scored the most goals so far this season with five, followed by Miedema with two and Kerr with one in five league contests, but four in two Champions League games.
In contrast, Shaw is projected to score 58 goals in 35 matches assuming he plays in every game remaining this season, while Haaland is projected to score 86 goals in 63 games, putting their respective scoring rates into perspective.
How does it function? At the moment, Shaw scores one goal every 65 minutes for City in the WSL, averaging 1.38 goals per 90 minutes.
The 25-year-old has a conversion percentage of 33% after making five goals from only seven shots on target and fifteen total.
The current Haaland record of 17 in 11 games results in an average of 54 minutes between goals. With a 41% conversion rate, it works out to 1.65 goals per 90 minutes.
