Haaland has been the Premier League's top scorer for the last two seasons and the Norwegian has already netted seven goals in three matches this season, including two hat-tricks.

The 24-year-old Norwegian scored his 11th hattrick for City to extend the champions' perfect start to their title defence, notching up his seventh goal in three league games this season.

Erling Haaland fired Manchester City to the top of the Premier League with a second consecutive hattrick in a 3-1 win at West Ham on Saturday.

"The numbers are ridiculous," Guardiola told reporters. "He can compete in terms of goals with Cristiano and Messi. The numbers are unbelievable at his age. He's an incredible threat, hopefully he can be here for many years."

Manchester City scored a flurry of three goals in less than four minutes to beat newly-promoted Ipswich Town 4-1 in the Premier League on Saturday, roaring back from a shock start at Etihad Stadium.

Manchester City got their Premier League title defence off to a winning start as goals from Erling Haaland and Mateo Kovacic inflicted a 2-0 defeat on Enzo Maresca in his first match in charge of Chelsea.

Manchester City striker Erling Haaland is in the hunt to win a second successive PFA Player of the Year award after being nominated alongside team-mates Phil Foden and Rodri.

Reigning Premier League champion City scored goals 54 seconds apart in the first half and 71 seconds apart in the second half to dominate the fixture, part of a US pre-season tour for both clubs.

The 23-year-old failed to add to his 27 Premier League goals on the final day but still proved decisive in the run-in to help City secure an unprecedented fourth consecutive English top-flight crown.

Erling Haaland has urged his Manchester City teammates to "relax" after they closed in on making English football history with a 2-0 win away to Tottenham Hotspur.

City almost conceded an equaliser to Son Heung-min late on.

Manchester City striker Erling Haaland has been branded a "spoilt brat" by Roy Keane as the former Manchester United star stepped up his war of words with the Norwegian.

Hours after Arsenal's 3-0 win over Bournemouth, Pep Guardiola's men responded with a resounding victory that pulled them to within a point of Arsenal at the top with a game in hand

Manchester City overcame relegation-threatened Nottingham Forest 2-0 on Sunday to close to within one point of Premier League leaders Arsenal.

Haaland missed City's 1-0 win over Chelsea in the FA Cup semi-final at Wembley on Saturday due to a muscle injury sustained in the Champions League quarter-final exit against Real Madrid last week.

Pep Guardiola has revealed Erling Haaland could miss Manchester City's FA Cup semi-final against Chelsea at Wembley on Saturday.

Eight days on from a captivating six-goal spectacular at the Santiago Bernabeu, Manchester City and Real Madrid reconvene for the second leg of their Champions League quarterfinal on Wednesday.

“Then you have the background of Keane and other experts, who may have a slightly different agenda,” Alf-Inge told ViaPlay football.

Haaland has netted 30 times this season and scored 52 goals last term when City won the Champions League, Premier League and FA Cup.

Guardiola insisted any blame for the scoreless display against Arsenal should be shared by the team.