Erling Haaland scores his ninth goal in just four games as Man City beats Brentford

Erling Haaland might have fallen just short of more history on Saturday, but he is well on his way to making more.

The 24-year-old sensation scored two first-half goals in Manchester City's 2-1 win over Brentford on Saturday. With the brace, Haaland has now racked up nine goals this season — after just four games.

Unfortunately, Haaland fell short of his third consecutive hat trick — by a post, to be specific. A shot from Haaland in the 81st minute almost gave him the milestone, but it hit the left post and kept him at a brace. Time expired before Haaland was able to get another quality shot off.

Even without the hat trick, Haaland is well on his way to breaking his own single-season Premier League scoring record, which he set in the 2022-2023 season. That year — Haaland's first in the Premier League — he scored 36 goals, breaking both the single-season record and the debut season record.

If Haaland had been able to get that third goal, he would have joined an exclusive club, becoming just the fourth person (and the first person since 1946) to score three straight hat tricks.

Still, this is not Haaland's first chance to achieve that milestone: He was in a similar situation at the start of the 2022 season, getting back-to-back hat tricks before only getting one goal in Man City's third game.

Haaland was also originally questionable for Saturday's game, with Man City manager Pep Guardiola telling reporters on Friday that the Norwegian striker had lost a close family friend this week and might not be available for selection. Haaland posted on Instagram on Thursday, expressing his sadness of the loss of 59-year-old Ivar Eggja, who was an important part of the young striker's life.

Despite the tragedy, Haaland showed out and put up the points to lift his team over Brentford. Man City sits firmly in first, with an aim to win the Premier League for the third straight season.