Manchester City would still be second in the Premier League table without the stunning goalscoring rampage of star striker Erling Haaland, a new study has found.
Haaland has been in lethal form for City since his £51m transfer from Borussia Dortmund last summer, with Pep Guardiola’s men keeping pace with league leaders Arsenal in a nail-biting title race.
The Norwegian striker has scored an incredible 42 times in 37 appearances, with 28 of those goals coming in 26 Premier League matches this season.
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Haaland remains the favourite to land the Premier League Golden Boot this season and is six goals ahead of Tottenham striker Harry Kane.
Buzz Casino has now used data from official Premier League results and removed each club’s top goalscorer for a reimagined league table.
Despite losing Haaland’s whopping 28 Premier League goals, City would remain second in the league table.
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However, the defending Premier League champions would be worse off without Haaland’s goal contributions after the findings found that City would drop 14 points.
The 14 points dropped by City in the reimagined league table would leave them a mammoth 19 points behind Arsenal, who would only drop three points without top scorer Gabriel Martinelli.
Manchester United, who are currently third in the league table, would also be hit hard without the 14 Premier League goals from Marcus Rashford.
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Rashford has seen a remarkable turn of form under United manager Erik ten Hag this season, with the England star scoring 27 goals in 44 appearances across all competitions.
If the 25-year-old United forward’s Premier League goals are removed from the equation, then the Red Devils would drop from third place to seventh.
United would also be 10 points worse off without Rashford’s tally, which would be the same for top-four rivals Spurs if Kane’s goal contributions were removed.
Tottenham, much like United, would drop four places and lose 10 points without England captain Kane, with Spurs sitting in eighth place behind the Red Devils.
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Both Newcastle and Brighton would climb into the Premier League top four at the expense of Tottenham and United.
According to the findings, Eddie Howe’s men would move two places up to third and Roberto De Zerbi’s Brighton would climb three places into fourth in the league table.
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Topics: Manchester City, Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur, Premier League, England, Football, Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal
Adnan Riaz