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Having scored nine times in his initial seven league matches, Manchester City striker Erling Haaland has begun the season on fire.

Although this isn't his strongest opening to a campaign - he registered 11 strikes in his first seven games in the 2022-23 season and ten in the previous campaign - it still puts him three goals ahead in the early running for this campaign's English top-flight Golden Boot.

The fact that zero of his nine conversions have been penalties renders it particularly impressive.

What Makes Haaland Special

Certainly, fitness issues could potentially disrupt in the destination of the Golden Boot, but there are two reasons why Haaland is such a strong favourite for the prize so soon in the campaign.

First, the total of conversions he has already scored - and, just as importantly, the total and standard of opportunities he's receiving.

Secondly, the slow start his typical competitors for the honor have made.

Chance Quality Assessment

A footballer's xG statistic (xG) signifies how many goals a top-flight footballer has historically scored from the number and quality of chances he has had.

This isn't a figure arbitrarily chosen by data analysts, but by English top-flight records.

And if we look at attackers' xG statistics in the English top division so far this campaign from open play, the Norwegian striker is obtaining considerably more excellent scoring situations to convert than any other player.

Indeed, even if Haaland were no better at converting opportunities than every other footballer in the division, he would nevertheless have converted significantly more goals as all other players.

Scoring Situation Assessment

This is shown by analyzing the total and standard of opportunities that players have had in the Premier League so far.

Haaland has taken 29 shots so far this campaign, a dozen more than every other footballer.

This is actually not particularly unusual for him - he had in fact attempted more open-play attempts at this point in the most recent two terms (30 in the 2023-24 season and 34 in the 2024-25 campaign).

What's particularly unprecedented even for him is the quality of chances he has had this campaign. His attempts have had an expected goals rating of 0.27 on average.

What that figure means is that players have historically converted the shots he has had at a 27 percent conversion rate.

Of players to take at minimum ten attempts, only Blues playmaker Enzo Fernandez has had more straightforward opportunities to net per shot - because of a several close-range conversions against West Ham United and Brighton.

City striker's xG statistic of 0.27 per shot is considerably superior than the 0.17 xG per attempt he had at the start of last season.

In short, the scoring situations he has had in this campaign have been notably easier to convert from in a reorganised City team than those at the beginning of last season.

Past Performance Analysis

Beginning a campaign so impressively is, as mentioned above, typical for Haaland. Following seven matches last term he had registered ten strikes - four more than any other player and six more than Mohamed Salah.

However, it was the Anfield star who won the Golden Boot with 29 conversions, seven additional compared to the City forward.

During the current term, while Haaland has opened with incredible momentum, Salah has scored half the number goals and had fifty percent fewer opportunities (xG) than at this juncture last term.

Actually this has been the most subdued opening to a Premier League term the Egyptian attacker has made.

Challengers' Quiet Beginning

It is not just Salah who has begun modestly either. If we look at the top 11 scorers in the English top division last term, Haaland has netted the same number goals as the other 10 players collectively so far.

Whether due to fitness issues - multiple prominent forwards - protracted transfer stories in Alexander Isak's case or simply because their clubs have faced difficulties (Bryan Mbeumo, Chris Wood, Ollie Watkins and Matheus Cunha), Haaland's potential challengers in the contest for the top scorer award have not fired so far.

Continental Scoring Title Battle

Even as Haaland seems the distinct favorite for the Premier League scoring title, what about the European Golden Shoe that is awarded to the player with the most goals in Europe's top-five leagues?

That contest is far more competitive at this opening period because two world-class strikers have similarly opened in great form, with eleven and nine strikes correspondingly.

The fact Haaland has netted on numerous occasions and has the top chance quality metric of the trio without having taken any penalties makes him the frontrunner.

However, because Kane and Mbappe are two of the best converters in continental soccer in terms of outperforming their chance quality metrics, the competition remains open.