'I have to keep up' - Erling Haaland admits he faces huge challenge to beat Harry Kane and Kylian Mbappe to European Golden Boot this season

Man City secured a hard-fought 1-0 victory against Brentford in the Premier League, with Haaland’s early goal proving to be the difference between the two sides. The Norway striker opened the scoring in the ninth minute, demonstrating his strength to power past the Brentford defence and fire a low shot past Caoimhin Kelleher. This was Haaland's ninth Premier League goal of the season and his 18th in 11 games for club and country, set up by Josko Gvardiol's left-footed pass over the top. City dominated the first half, creating several chances, Phil Foden came close to extending the lead, curling a shot just wide after being set up by Tijjani Reijnders and Reijnders himself was denied by an excellent save from Kelleher. 

Unfortunately for City, midfielder Rodri was forced off due to injury in the 21st minute, another worrying setback for the Spaniard, who had only recently returned from a long rehabilitation period for an ACL injury. Brentford showed signs of life in the second half, with Igor Thiago having their best chance but was denied by a superb save from Gianluigi Donnarumma. Despite Brentford's increased pressure, City defended stoutly to hold on to their slender lead and secure the three points. This victory marks City boss Pep Guardiola's 250th Premier League win, a milestone achieved in a record 349 games and the result lifts City to fifth in the Premier League table, three points behind leaders Arsenal, heading into the international break. Brentford remain in 16th.

On the race for the European Golden Boot and battling Kane, Haaland said: "Don't forget Mbappe as well, he had a great start as well. They're doing amazing, so I need to keep up. I have never felt better than I do now. It is about preparation, getting ready for the games. You can be physically ready but you need to be mentally ready. With a kid it makes me even better because I disconnect more than ever - I don't think about football at all. When you are young you think of this and that and maybe worry about things but when I get home I relax even more. I think I need to give a shout-out to my son. This for me, this goal is top. This was one of my better goals for me because of the whole thing."

As it stands, Haaland (11th), Kane (7th) and Mbappe (13th) are some way down the scoring chart, but that’s due to many of the leagues being out of sync - where some divisions have played 20+ games, many are still in single digits. And there’s a weighting system, so the tougher the league you play in, the more your goals are worth, so there's no doubt the trio playing in Germany, England and Spain will occupy the top spots come next May. And you can check the latest table here. 

Kane has started the 25/26 season in prolific form for Bayern, continuing his impressive scoring rate from previous seasons. He’s bagged 11 goals so far in the league and recently achieved the milestone of becoming the fastest player to reach 100 goals for a club in Europe's top five leagues, doing so in just 104 games. Meanwhile, Mbappé is top scorer in LaLiga with nine goals and leads the Champions League with five goals after Matchday 2. He also recently surpassed Thierry Henry to become France's second-highest scorer of all time.