Erling Haaland has broken a fresh Premier League scoring record after netting a brace in Manchester City's 2-0 win over Everton at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday.
The Norwegian was starting his second successive game following a two-month injury layoff, and after drawing a blank in the 3-1 win at Brentford last Monday, City's No.9 rediscovered his clinical touch in front of goal against the Toffees.
Pep Guardiola's side initially struggled to break down a resilient Everton backline and failed to register a single shot on target in the first hour of the contest, but they managed to make the breakthrough on the 71-minute when Haaland rifled a powerful right-footed strike beyond Jordan Pickford following a corner.
Five minutes from time, Haaland was fed through on goal by substitute Kevin De Bruyne and managed to shrug off a challenge from Jarrad Branthwaite before coolly slotting home a left-footed finish into the bottom corner to seal three crucial points for the champions.
The 23-year-old has increased his goal tally in the Premier League to 52 in 53 appearances, with 51 of those goals netted in just 50 starts – more than any other player's half-century of starts in the competition.
Haaland's latest brace has also seen him increase his lead at the top of this season's Premier League scoring charts to 16, two clear of his nearest challenger Mohamed Salah (14).
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Speaking to mancity.com after firing City to victory over Everton, Haaland said: "It's a fantastic feeling. It's fantastic to be back and it is also good to keep on winning. It's important. We have to keep on going.
"Yeah, it was a great goal [first goal] and a fantastic feeling. Back to normal finally, it's good to be back to normal. It was a great goal [second goal]."
"It's a good feeling, just to play again as well and to start at home, of course it is a good feeling and it is an amazing feeling to win the game," Haaland added. "It's true, the club has won 10 games in a row now. I've been practicing on my right foot a bit the past few months.
"I like running through on goal like this [second goal]. I should have done it against Brentford, I did it today, it's good because that shows improvement.
"We changed small things at half time. Small details and to keep going and to keep the tempo high because they would get tired. We got the chances, we scored, and we won, that's the most important thing.
"It's been horrible [being injured]. I really don't like it, but it makes you appreciate more going to training every day, appreciate the meetings before games and the nerves before a game. It makes your mind think differently.
"Now just coming to training I appreciate it so much more because I know how it feels to be without it."
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Discussing his partnership with De Bruyne, who has set up the Norwegian 12 times in all competitions since the start of last season, Haaland said: "I try to do the same runs with everyone, but with him it's a bit more like I know I'm going to get it perfect. I know the ball is going to come.
"You can see I don't even look at the ball for two seconds when he has it because I'm focusing on running towards the goal.
"That's the difference, nothing bad towards other players, but it's the small difference of knowing that the ball will come.
"It's more natural. For me, I watch a lot of football so I already saw for a number of years where he plays the ball and he hasn't changed anything about where he plays it in the last five years. For me it was about coming in and finishing those actions."
Man City momentarily climbed to the Premier League summit after beating Everton, but they have dropped back down to second place following Liverpool's 3-1 win over Burnley, although Guardiola's side do have a game in hand on the Reds.
The Citizens will now shift their attention to Tuesday's Champions League last-16 first-leg clash against Copenhagen in Denmark.
Oliver Thomas
