David Moyes has admitted that West Ham will face a tough task to stop Manchester City's "incredible" striker Erling Haaland.
The Hammers are set to come up against the Norwegian striker this evening (Wednesday) at the Etihad Stadium as West Ham take on Pep Guardiola's side in the Premier League, with City looking to go back to the top of the table after Arsenal returned to the summit following a 3-1 victory against Chelsea last night (Tuesday).
City may be without playmaker Kevin De Bruyne, who is an injury doubt for the game, but top scorer Haaland is expected to play as he looks to add to his tally of 34 goals in the Premier League in his first season in England since moving from Borussia Dortmund last summer.
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Haaland scored twice back on the opening weekend of the season as City beat West Ham 2-0 at the London Stadium in August and he has not really looked back from there, scoring with regularity in all competitions as he has taken English football by storm this term.
The Hammers will be without central defender Kurt Zouma tonight as they try to contain the prolific 22-year-old, who Moyes has compared with some of the Premier League greats.
"I have come up against loads of players that I thought were unplayable. There have been so many," the 60-year-old said. "Thierry Henry was one of them, and then you’d think how can you deal with [Dennis] Bergkamp coming off the front.
"I thought Ruud van Nistelrooy’s finishing and the positions he took up in the box were incredible in the early days, and then you would be thinking how can I stop [Wayne] Rooney and [Robin] Van Persie? There were loads of centre forwards and brilliant players. At the moment [Erling] Haaland is one of those brilliant players at the moment and maybe blowing everyone away."
Indeed, Moyes admits that it is difficult to criticise defenders for not being able to deal with Haaland with many Premier League sides trying and failing to stop the Norwegian striker.
But Haaland has not been immune from criticism, with question marks at times this season over City's playing style with him in the side.
"If you took [Erling] Haaland out, the past few years they [Manchester City] have played with a false striker and part of this year there were some doubts over whether Haaland made them any better," Moyes said.
"It has taken them time to get used to Haaland, just like we are with a few of our players. They have needed to get used to his goals because he provides those like a machine, but maybe how he played for the team and how they used him. There are not that many absolute centre forwards out there. Harry Kane is incredible.
"He [Haaland] didn't start slow with his goals but he maybe started slow by Man City generally felt they were playing. They have changed it around a little and he is doing exceptionally well.
"A lot of players come to the Premier League and start exceptionally well but there are probably more who don't. Maybe that's what makes the Premier League great - that you can't just pluck a player from anywhere and think he is going to be a top player. You have to be exceptional.
"The centre-forward at Newcastle, [Alexander] Isak, has come from Spain and done really well - but is that to do with their whole team playing much better? [Newcastle defender Sven] Botman has played exceptionally well coming into the Premier League and there are others I could come up with given time to think about it.
"There are a lot who could do with more time - and, by the way, maybe that's the way we want the league, that people can't just breeze in and think they can be the main man right away."
Haaland has netted 50 goals in all competitions for Manchester City so far this season, with the 22-year-old now scoring the most goals by a top flight player in a single campaign since Tom 'Pongo' Waring scored 50 for Aston Villa in 1930-31. Of his 50 goals, 34 have come in the Premier League, with 12 in the Champions League, three in the FA Cup, and one in the Carabao Cup.
But with at least nine more fixtures still to come between now and the end of the season, including six in the Premier League, Haaland could add to his tally, which would see him surpass both Alan Shearer and Andy Cole, who have also previously netted 34 goals in a single Premier League season.
And Moyes, who was a defender in his playing days, was asked if he would rather face Haaland or Shearer, who currently holds the all-time Premier League goalscoring record with 260.
"I probably wouldn't have been good enough to play against any of them. If it was me I'd have tried to battle them. [Alan] Shearer would have beat you up as much as you'd have beat Shearer up. [Erling] Haaland you might be able to try to get into him a bit more but they are both incredible players," Moyes replied.
"You'd need to try to get as tight as you can, get as physical as you can - and leave a bit on them as often as you could. Sadly you can't get away with that as much these days but it would be hard to deal with him in any other way."
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