LONDON, England – Erling Haaland has had a spectacular debut season in English football, and the records just keep falling.

The Manchester City striker is on track to smash both records for a Premier League player after scoring 28 goals in 27 league games and 42 goals overall so far this season.

What other scoring milestones is he approaching? And how close is he to breaking the record for Europe’s most prolific forward in a season? BBC Sport examines.

The question to ask is this: Who currently holds the title in the English Premier League?

The record for the most goals scored in a 38-game Premier League season belongs to Mohamed Salah. 

When Andy Cole, a striker with Newcastle United at the time, scored 34 league goals in the 1993–94 season, he initially set the record for the most goals in a single Premier League season. The next year, when Alan Shearer helped Blackburn Rovers win the championship, he tied it.

However, both of those totals were achieved when the top division consisted of 22 teams and the season lasted 42 games. Since those numbers were decreased to 20 teams and 38 games, no one has been able to match or even come close to those numbers.

Noteworthy is his performance in the previous Qatar FIFA World Cup 2022.

The record for the most goals scored in a 38-game Premier League season belongs to Mohamed Salah. 

When Andy Cole, a striker with Newcastle United at the time, scored 34 league goals in the 1993–94 season, he initially set the record for the most goals in a single Premier League season. The next year, when Alan Shearer helped Blackburn Rovers win the championship, he tied it.

However, both of those totals were achieved when the top division consisted of 22 teams and the season lasted 42 games. Since those numbers were decreased to 20 teams and 38 games, no one has been able to match or even come close to those numbers.

The guy that holds the record for scoring 32 goals in a 38-game season is Liverpool striker Mohamed Salah, who has come the closest of anyone.

Given that Haaland has scored seven Premier League goals in his last 11 games, it is plausible to expect that he will score four more goals in the 11 games left to at least tie Salah’s record and maybe six more to surpass Cole and Shearer’s totals.

He is even closer to surpassing the Premier League player record for most goals scored in a single season across all competitions. Only two goals separate him from Salah and Robin van Persie’s total of 42 in 37 games.

Football, of course, was there long before the Premier League was created, and Dixie Dean’s 60 goals for Everton in the old First Division in 1927–28 will undoubtedly stand as the record for the most goals ever scored in a season of England’s top flight.

Dean set a record by scoring 63 goals overall across all competitions. Clive Allen led Tottenham to a record-setting 49 goals in all competitions during the 1986–87 season, a total that has not been surpassed in 36 years.