Erling Haaland left Rio Ferdinand surprised with his performance against Arsenal on Sunday.
Manchester City were so close to earning all three points at the Emirates Stadium before conceding late, which would have come thanks to the early goal Erling Haaland scored to give Pep Guardiola’s side the lead.
| Position | Team | Played MP | Won W | Drawn D | Lost L | For GF | Against GA | Diff GD | Points Pts |
| 7 |  SunderlandSunderland | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 8 |
| 8 |  FulhamFulham | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 8 |
| 9 |  Manchester CityManchester City | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 9 | 5 | 4 | 7 |
| 10 |  EvertonEverton | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 7 |
The Norwegian showed his pace and power when transitioning from his own box to the Arsenal goal, while also displaying his intelligence by linking up with Tijjani Reijnders, as the striker continues to impress this season in a sky blue shirt.
Gary Neville admitted his love for Haaland on Sunday, and his former Man United teammate, Rio Ferdinand, has now stated that the superstar surprised him against Arsenal.
Rio Ferdinand thinks Erling Haaland made Arsenal’s centre-backs look normal
Haaland has started the 2025/26 campaign with seven goals in six matches in all competitions, with Thierry Henry believing that the Man City star is currently the best striker in the world.
Following another impressive display against Arsenal, Ferdinand praised Haaland for his performance on Sunday, and the former centre-back has since added to that, stating that the 25-year-old surprises him with how he handled City’s most recent game.
“His game’s evolved a little bit. I see a couple of deft touches, a little couple of like link-up play. He’s the one who linked up before the goal,” the pundit said on Rio Ferdinand Presents.
“I was really pleasantly surprised with the way that he handled the game yesterday. And really, I thought he made the two centre-backs look normal and they haven’t done that for two or three years.”
Burnley is next up for Haaland and Man City, and it may be a good thing that the Clarets play with a back three in the Norwegian’s current form.
Erling Haaland’s goal-scoring may be impacted by recent change in style
Although Haaland has started the current campaign impressively, it is, in fact, his worst opening to a season when it comes to goal-scoring since he joined Man City during the summer of 2022.
The Norwegian has impressed mostly through his work rate, his defensive contributions and his link-up play, but how will that affect his goal-scoring long-term?
The logical guess is that the 25-year-old’s number will be impacted, but at present, the striker has found a very nice balance.
If Haaland can keep this up, then this may be the evolution of the Man City striker, which will benefit everyone at the Manchester club going forward.
