Manchester City striker Erling Haaland believes he is in the best form of his career — and the statistics show he might be right.
The scoring phenom from Norway made it 18 goals from his opening 11 games of the season by netting City's winner against Brentford in the Premier League.
That prompted a question: Is he in the form of his life?
“You can say so," Haaland said. "I’ve never felt better than I do now.”
Here's a deeper look at his scoring run — and how it currently compares to other top strikers:
In a senior career spent at Molde in Norway, Salzburg in Austria, Borussia Dortmund in Germany and now City, Haaland has never scored more than 18 goals in an 11-game stretch in a single season.
He has achieved that exact same tally, though, on three previous occasions. And they came in the same season.
In the 2022-23 campaign — his first at City — Haaland had 11-game stretches from Aug. 21-Oct. 5 and Aug. 27-Oct. 8 where he scored 18 goals for club and country. Those runs included hat tricks in three consecutive home league games.
Later that season, he again netted 18 goals in an 11-game run from March 11-May 3 — a streak that included five goals in a Champions League match against Leipzig.
In his current run, Haaland also has a five-goal match — for Norway against Moldova — as well as four doubles. He has nine Premier League goals so far, which is more than nine teams in the division.
This is where Haaland has broken his personal record.
His goal against Brentford meant he has now scored in nine straight matches for club and country, and he's never done that before.
His previous best streak was eight games in a row — from August to October in 2021 when he played for Dortmund, and from August to September in 2022 soon after joining City.
The only game in which Haaland failed to score this season was at home to Tottenham in the Premier League on Aug. 23, when City lost 2-0.
He has netted in all five of City's league games since, but has a way to go to break the record for scoring in consecutive games.
That is held by Jamie Vardy, who scored in 11 straight matches in the Premier League from August to November en route to Leicester winning the title in fairytale fashion.
It hasn't just been a strong start to the season for Haaland.
Harry Kane has begun even better, scoring 19 goals in his first 11 games for Bayern Munich and England combined — starting with one in the German Super Cup. The England captain has failed to score in just one of those matches.
As for Kylian Mbappé, he has 16 goals in his opening 12 games for Real Madrid and France combined. He has also failed to score in only one of those matches.
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Manchester City's Erling Haaland, top, scores his side's second goal during the Champions League opening phase soccer match between Monaco and Manchester City at the Louis II stadium in Monaco, Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Philippe Magoni)
Manchester City's Erling Haaland scores during the English Premier League soccer match between Brentford and Manchester City in London Sunday, Oct. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)
Manchester City's Erling Haaland walks off the pitch after the Premier League soccer match between Burnley and Manchester City in Manchester, England, Saturday, Sept. 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Jon Super)
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. forces in the Caribbean Sea have seized another sanctioned oil tanker that the Trump administration says has ties to Venezuela, part of a broader U.S. effort to take control of the South American country’s oil.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem wrote on social media that the U.S. Coast Guard had boarded the Motor Tanker Veronica early Thursday. She said the ship had previously passed through Venezuelan waters and was operating in defiance of President Donald Trump’s "established quarantine of sanctioned vessels in the Caribbean.”
U.S. Southern Command said Marines and sailors launched from the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford to take part in the operation alongside a Coast Guard tactical team, which Noem said conducted the boarding as in previous raids. The military said the ship was seized “without incident.”
Noem posted a brief video that appeared to show part of the ship’s capture. The black-and-white footage showed helicopters hovering over the deck of a merchant vessel while armed troops dropped down on the deck by rope.
The Veronica is the sixth sanctioned tanker seized by U.S. forces as part of the effort by Trump’s administration to control the production, refining and global distribution of Venezuela’s oil products and the fourth since the U.S. ouster of Venezuela President Nicolás Maduro in a surprise nighttime raid almost two weeks ago.
The Veronica last transmitted its location on Jan. 3 as being at anchor off the coast of Aruba, just north of Venezuela’s main oil terminal. According to the data it transmitted at the time, it was partially filled with crude.
The ship is currently listed as flying the flag of Guyana and is considered part of the shadow fleet that moves cargoes of oil in violation of U.S. sanctions.
According to its registration data, the ship also has been known as the Galileo, owned and managed by a company in Russia. In addition, a tanker with the same registration number previously sailed under the name Pegas and was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department for moving cargoes of illicit Russian oil.
As with prior posts about such raids, Noem and the military framed the seizure as part of an effort to enforce the law. Noem argued that the multiple captures show that “there is no outrunning or escaping American justice.”
However, other officials in Trump's Republican administration have made clear that they see the actions as a way to generate cash as they seek to rebuild Venezuela’s battered oil industry and restore its economy.
Trump met with executives from oil companies last week to discuss his goal of investing $100 billion in Venezuela to repair and upgrade its oil production and distribution. His administration has said it expects to sell at least 30 million to 50 million barrels of sanctioned Venezuelan oil.
This story has been corrected to show the Veronica is the fourth, not the third, tanker seized by U.S. forces since Maduro's capture.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks with reporters at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks with reporters at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks with reporters at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks with reporters at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks with reporters at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks during a press conference, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks at a news conference at Harry Reid International Airport, Nov. 22, 2025, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Ronda Churchill, File)
