Erling Haaland failed to register a shot for the first time in over a year as Manchester City put one foot in the Carabao Cup final.
Pep Guardiola’s side secured an impressive 2-0 victory at Newcastle in their semi-final first-leg thanks to goals from Antoine Semenyo and Rayan Cherki.
Man City will fancy their chances of finishing the job at the Etihad in three weeks, and a date at Wembley against either Chelsea or Arsenal awaits.
Our tipster is backing a close affair in his best bets for Chelsea vs Arsenal.
Erling Haaland Struggling For Form?
Haaland had a quiet game by his standards and surprisingly failed to have a shot on goal against Eddie Howe’s men.
The last time that occurred in a fixture was against Wolves in a 2-1 victory on October 20, 2024.
Since then, he has played in 61 games for Manchester City in all competitions, scoring 60 goals and has an average of 3.7 shots per game.
In the latter half of the 2024/25 season, Haaland actually saw his shots-per-game drop to a career-low average of 3.5.
However, in the current 2025/26 campaign, he has ramped back up to 3.95, largely because City are playing a faster and more direct style.
Since the Wolves game, his lowest shot count in a Premier League game was one, which came against Leeds and Brentford earlier this season.
One Goal In Six Games For Haaland
His recent statistics may be some cause for concern for Guardiola, especially considering they have lost further ground in the title race.
Draws against Sunderland, Chelsea and Brighton mean City are now six points adrift of the Gunners.
During their last six matches, Haaland has only found the net on one occasion – in the 1-1 draw with Brighton.
That also included failing to hit the net in City’s emphatic 10-1 victory over Exeter, although Haaland was substituted at half-time.
While one goal in his last six matches may be considered a mini crisis by his standards, it has happened before on rare occasions.
His longest streak without a goal is seven games, which occurred in March and April 2021 while playing for Borussia Dortmund and Norway.
For City, he experienced a winter slump in 2024.
Between late November and December, he went on a run of one goal in seven matches, which also coincided with just one victory over that period.
City’s arrival of Semenyo can be attributed to Guardiola hoping to ease the pressure on Haaland’s shoulders and spread goals around the team.
Phil Foden is the club’s second top scorer this season on seven, ahead of Tijjani Reijnders on five. After that, it’s defender Ruben Dias on two.
Omar Marmoush, who could leave Manchester City this month, has failed to hit the target this season.
