Why does Erling Haaland score less Premier League goals after December?
Erling Haaland is one of the world's best, most deadly finishers of all time, to the point that it's boring. But how many of those league goals are scored after winter?
It always feels like he slows down each season after January, so I looked into things. The last two seasons in particular have produced a stark drop-off, with Haaland adding just eight goals from January to May in the 24/25 and 25/26 seasons.
Swipe to scroll horizontally Season Period Goals Games Notes 2022/23 Until January 21 16 Treble Season Row 1 - Cell 0 Until May 14 22 2023/24 Until January 14 15 Injury 5 games in December Row 3 - Cell 0 Until May 13 16 2024/25 Until January 14 19 Lean period (for City in general) + Played Club World Cup in the summer before Row 5 - Cell 0 Injury period 8 13 2025/26 Until January 19 18 Row 6 - Cell 4 Row 7 - Cell 0 Until May 8 16 So what's going on? Does Haaland feel the winter pinch?
Let's take a look at things season-by-season? During the 22/23 season, teams were simply blown away by this physical specimen that arrived in the league.
On top of that, the team built around him at the time was Riyad Mahrez, Jack Grealish, Kevin De Bruyne, Phil Foden and Bernardo Silva. All facilitating attackers that cook chances wide or centrally, with Rodri in his prime controlling midfield.
Haaland was the centrepiece of a treble-winning team, though there was some drop-off as teams started to cut off supply lines to him by choking the middle; but he still came good with 14 goals till the end of the season. Four of them may have been against Southampton and Leicester, but by that point it didn't matter; Guardiola had City in free-flowing mode when Haaland's initial burst till January ran dry slightly.
Okay, so the drop-off here isn't pronounced, but looking beyond the stats paints a different picture. Haaland missed five games in December, and it took him a while to hit the ground running again after winter, scoring four goals in nine games.
In fact, if it wasn't for scoring four goals against Wolves late on in the season, his tally goes down to nine after December. It becomes an even more intriguing season when you realise Kevin de Bruyne was out until after the winter and Haaland found joy with Julian Alvarez behind him, Jeremy Doku and Phil Foden as wingers, with Rodri and Bernardo Silva controlling midfield before De Bruyne returned.
There was a plan in place for the team that was working up until the Belgian got injured; then Guardiola was trying to figure out how to reintegrate the former Wolfsburg midfielder again. After January, Haaland scored five goals in ten games; and though City won the title, he struggled with an injury in December and took time to reconnect with a returning De Bruyne.