Two Man City forwards are the leading scorers in top-flight football in the Premier League and the Women’s Super League. Erling Haaland has 22 goals in 16 games, in all competitions, 17 of which are from 11 Premier League games, in his first year on British soil.
Last season was Khadija 'Bunny' Shaw’ s first taste of WSL action, she appeared in 17 games, scoring nine. However, at the start of this 2022/23 campaign, and Ellen White’s retirement, Shaw has solidified her place in the starting XI for City and seemingly can't stop scoring. To date, her goal tally of seven goals in six games in all competitions - five goals in her four games for the WSL has caught some serious attention.
Although Real Madrid’s Caroline Weir knocked her former club out of UEFA Women’s Champions League, Shaw netted two in as many games, while Haaland’s goal tally stands at five in four of the men’s competition.
The young Norwegian striker scored 27 goals for Dortmund in the Bundesliga back in 2021, and 22 last season, but with 17 goals in 11 League games already for City, he is on the path to breaking records.
Currently, he sits top of the Premier League for goals, shots on target, and goals by foot but second in goals by head; 3 to Harry Kane’s 6 respectively, aged only 22.
The record to beat is Andy Cole’s 34 goals in 40 games in 1993-94, for Newcastle United. Alan Shearer also netted 34 goals the following year but played two more games than Cole.
For the women’s game, Arsenal’s Vivianne Miedema leads the all-time way with a tally of 74 goals in all competitions as of August 2022, but last year Chelsea’s Sam Kerr scored the most WSL goals, 20 in 22 games and Miedema came second with 14.
So far this season Shaw leads the table with five, Miedema has two and Kerr has found the net once in five league games, but has four goals in two Champions League fixtures.
But to put Haaland and Shaw’s current scoring rates into context, if they both were to feature in every fixture left this season, Shaw’s predicted to score 58 goals in 35 matches, and Haaland would reach 86 in 63 games.
How does that work? Shaw currently averages 1.38 goals per 90 minutes for City in the WSL at a rate of one goal every 65 minutes.
The 25-year-old has found the net five times from just seven attempts on target and 15 overall, leaving her with a conversion rate of 33%.
Haaland's current record of 17 in 11 matches produces an average of 54 minutes per goal. That equates to 1.65 goals per 90 minutes, with a conversion rate of 41%.
