Another day, another Premier League record for Erling Haaland!
Manchester City's devastating Norwegian striker continues to take the English top-flight by storm, with his latest victim being none other than the Cityzens' bitter rivals Manchester United.
Guardiola's men hosted Ten Hag's side in Sunday's early fixture as fans flooded to the Etihad Stadium to watch the latest edition of the Manchester Derby. Despite winning their last four games in a row, the Red Devils weren't able to hold their own and were torn apart by the defending champions.
Phil Foden gave the hosts an early lead, breaking the deadlock after only eight minutes to shatter the confidence of Bruno Fernandes and Co. However, just after the half-an-hour mark, this game quickly turned into the Erling Haaland show.
The former Dortmund ace got his name on the scoresheet in the 34th minute, courtesy of some help from goalline technology, thus making his mark in his derby debut. Less than four minutes later, the 22-year-old combined with Kevin de Bruyne once again to make it 3-0 and complete his brace, but the best was yet to come.
Haaland would go on to assist Foden for City's fourth goal of the first half but the visitors pulled one back just before the hour mark. Unfortunately for the visitors, any hope of a comeback was swiftly ended as eight minutes later, Erling completed his hat-trick and made Premier League history along the way.
The Cityzens superstar latched on to a lovely low-driven cross from Sergio Gomez which he drilled past De Gea. And just like that, Haaland wrote his name in the record books, setting several astonishing feats.
First of all, he became the first Manchester City player to score a hat-trick against their bitter neighbors and rival in Premier League history. Additionally, he surpassed Michael Owen to become the quickest player to score three English top-flight hat-tricks, needing only eight games to achieve this feat to the former Three Lions talent's 48.
1 - Erling Haaland is the first player in Premier League history to score a hat-trick in three consecutive home games in the competition. Monster. pic.twitter.com/Iys0rdu4ey
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) October 2, 2022
RECORD BREAKER
— Sky Sports Statto (@SkySportsStatto) October 2, 2022
Erling Haaland becomes the 1st player in @premierleague history to score a hat-trick in 3 successive PL home games
Quickest players to 3 PL hat-tricks
E HAALAND apps
M Owen apps
R Van Nistelrooy apps
F Torres apps
A Cole apps pic.twitter.com/3BT1vcagex
And then the best of them all: after pulling off three-goal hauls in his previous two Etihad Stadium outings, Haaland became the first player ever in the Premier League to score hat-tricks in three consecutive home games (vs Crystal Palace, vs Nottingham Forest, and now vs Manchester United).
Erling Haaland is the first player in Premier League history to score a hat-trick in three consecutive home games:
— Squawka (@Squawka) October 2, 2022
vs. Crystal Palace
vs. Nottingham Forest
vs. Manchester United
Erling Haa-trick. pic.twitter.com/cVVmSgDuT9
Foden went on to score his third a while later, which was also set up by the Norwegian sensation, while Ten Hag's men found the back of the net an additional two times from substitute Anthony Martial. Nonetheless, the game ended in a convincing 6-3 triumph for the reigning champions and will leave Pep's men extremely confident of successfully defending their title.