Alan Shearer revises his Erling Haaland prediction after Man City striker’s ‘scary’ form

Alan Shearer has claimed Erling Haaland could end the season with 60 goals after the Manchester City striker continued his remarkable goal scoring season against Southampton.

The Norway international took his tally for this season to 44 goals after scoring a brace against the Saints as Pep Guardiola’s side closed the gap at the top of the Premier League to five points with a 4-1 win.

Shearer, the league’s all time highest goalscorer with 260 goals, believes Haaland will ‘obliterate’ his and Andy Cole’s record of 34 goals in a season and could yet score another 14 goals this term.

In his column for The Athletic, Shearer wrote: ‘If you were building a centre-forward from the ground up, Erling is what you would be left with.

‘As I wrote last May, he’s a goal machine, someone who is quick and direct, who is physically strong and good in the air, who can score with both feet and whose positioning is fantastic.

‘If I’m being super picky, perhaps the ball bounces off him on the odd occasion it goes up to him in terms of link-up play, but other than that, I don’t see a weakness in his game.

‘At a minimum, City have another 12 fixtures this season and potentially up to four more on top. If he can stay fit, Haaland will obliterate the Premier League record I share with Andy Cole of 34 goals in a single season (he is only four behind) and at his current rate of averages in all competitions, with 44 in 38 appearances, he will storm past 50.

‘Even that may be a disservice to him. Who knows, we could even be talking 60 and Dixie Dean territory. Scary.’

Leaping high to meet Kevin De Bruyne’s cross, Haaland opened the scoring for Guardiola’s side as they cruised to victory at St Marys’ on Saturday.

Following the interval, Haaland continued his unprecedented goalscoring form by adding a second with an acrobatic finish inside the penalty box to mark his 30th goal of the season after just 27 appearances.

The brace also means Haaland is now just two goals away from levelling Mo Salah’s incredible 2017-18 campaign in which the Egyptian set the record for the most goals by a single player in a 38-game Premier League season.

Haaland will seek to add to his goal tally when Manchester City host Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarter-final first-leg on Tuesday.