After scoring twice on his debut, Erling Haaland posted some rather more surprising numbers on his second Manchester City appearance.
City beat Bournemouth 4-0 in the first home game of the season – and Haaland set up Ilkay Gundogan's opening goal, but the £51m striker otherwise had a quiet afternoon at the Etihad.
That assist constituted one of only eight touches for the Norwegian hitman; it was also one of just eight passes he completed as he played in front of City home crowd for the first time.
Erling Haaland only had 8️⃣ touches and made just 2️⃣ passes in Manchester City's 4-0 win over Bournemouth yesterday... pic.twitter.com/Qksga6KVHvAugust 14, 2022
Since Opta started collecting such data in 2003/04, only two Premier League players have taken fewer touches in a single match: Watford's Hamer Bouazza (6), and Romelu Lukaku for Chelsea against Crystal Palace last term (7).
Still, on another day, Haaland would have had a goal to his name; with his teammate open in the middle, Phil Foden opted to shoot – and slightly fortuitously score City's third goal.
