Erling Haaland and Mikel Arteta (Photo by Shaun Botterill, Alex Davidson/Getty Images)
Much has been criticized about Arsenal’s over-reliance on goals from set-pieces this season, but Manchester City are even more reliant on Erling Haaland.
The Norway international has been in fantastic form this season, scoring 15 goals in his first 12 games in all competitions.
In the Premier League, he scored eleven goals in nine games, and statistics show that this is 65% of Man City’s total goals scored.
Watch below as Squawka claims Haaland’s goals account for almost two-thirds of the goals Pep Guardiola has scored in the league so far this season. That’s impressive, but perhaps far from ideal if he ever has a bad game, as we saw in City’s defeat to Aston Villa last weekend…
Erling Haaland has scored 65% of Manchester City’s goals in the Premier League this season.
Pep Guardiola’s system has made him more central than ever and the numbers show why. ?
— Squawka (@Squawka) October 31, 2025
In contrast, Arsenal scored 56% of their goals from set-pieces Who scoredSo while it’s clearly something they rely on a lot, it’s not quite the same as City’s dependence on Haaland.
Is Manchester City too much of a one-man team?
City were not at their best last season as they dropped to third in the Premier League, and at the time it seemed that Rodri’s long-term injury was one of the main factors affecting their form.
Yet they now appear to be overly reliant on Haaland more than anyone else, with other star names like Phil Foden and Jeremy Doku arguably not delivering a consistent enough end product in this MCFC attack.
It is difficult to see where else the goals could come from in Guardiola’s squad as he can no longer rely on the likes of Kevin De Bruyne and Ilkay Gundogan as he has in the past.
Arsenal – too one-dimensional?
At the same time, Arsenal could really do with a top scorer like Haaland in their side, with Viktor Gyokeres scoring just three Premier League goals so far.
The Gunners rely heavily on Gabriel Magalhaes’ headed movements and free-kicks, and it may be difficult to see how they can maintain that across an entire campaign.
It will be interesting to see how Arsenal and City go for the title with these shortcomings, even though they are both very strong teams overall.
It should make for an intriguing title race, but perhaps that means neither club will have enough to go all the way in the Champions League?
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