“His football legacy will be better than Messi”, “He’s from which planet?” - Fans stunned by Manchester City star in win over West Ham

Manchester City star Erling Haaland left fans stunned following his resounding performance against West Ham United away on Saturday, August 31. The City striker bagged a hat-trick to propel his side to a third consecutive Premier League win of the season, a 3-1 victory over the Hammers.

It took the Norwegian forward just 10 minutes to open the scoring at the London Stadium. West Ham equaled the scores nine minutes later off a Ruben Dias own goal. However, Haaland put his side back in the lead on the half-hour mark for a 2-1 scoreline at halftime.

The Hammers proved a hard nut to crack in the second half before Haaland delivered the icing on the cake seven minutes from regulation time. The Manchester City forward scored his third for the day, completing his hat-trick and securing the three points for the Cityzens.

The 24-year-old is in red-hot form with consecutive hat-tricks this campaign. On Matchday 2, he netted thrice in the 4-1 thumping of newly-promoted Ipswich Town.

In total, he has recorded eight Premier League hat-tricks and is the fastest player to reach the milestone in just 69 games. Haaland has now registered more goals (70) than games (69) in the Premier League.

His goalscoring numbers and prowess have left many fans in awe and they took to X (formerly Twitter) to laud the striker. Check out some reactions below:

One fan wrote:

"Haaland’s the greatest striker to step foot in this league. No room for debate."

A second fan commented:

"Absolute monster."

"Give Haaland the Premier League golden boot NOW," a third fan chimed in.

Another fan questioned why the Manchester City star is not being considered for the 2024 Ballon d'Or. The fan wrote:

"Why isn’t he in the balon d’or race??"

Other fans rated the Norway star ahead of Kylian Mbappe who is yet to score a league goal for Real Madrid in La Liga this season.

"Don’t compare Mbappe to Haaland ever again, haaland is clear," the fan wrote.

"Comparing MBAPPE to HAALAND is always MBAPPE BIGGEST ACHIEVEMENT," another fan added.

Below are more reactions from fans on X:

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Manchester City star Erling Haaland overtakes Thierry Henry, Harry Kane, and others on most Premier League hat-trick list

Erling Haaland has recorded a significant leap-frog on the list for most Premier League hat-tricks following his hat-trick against West Ham United.

Last week, after netting thrice against Ipswich Town, the Manchester City star moved to eighth on the list. However, after scoring another hat-trick against Julen Lopetegui's side, he now moves four places up on the list to fourth.

The City forward has overtaken Premier League legends such as Wayne Rooney, Micheal Owen, Harry Kane, and Thierry Henry. Like Haaland, Owen (326 games), Kane (320 games), and Henry (258 games) all have eight hat-tricks. However, the Norwegian achieved the feat in fewer appearances (69 games).

Only Sergio Aguero (12), Alan Shearer (11) and Robbie Fowler (9) have registered more hat-tricks than Haaland as it stands.