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Having scored nine times in his opening seven fixtures, Manchester City striker Erling Haaland has kicked off the season in spectacular form.

Although this isn't his strongest opening to a campaign - he registered 11 strikes in his opening seven appearances in the 2022-23 season and double digits last year - it nonetheless positions him with a three-goal lead in the opening stages for this term's Premier League Golden Boot.

The reality that none of his nine goals have been spot-kicks makes it all the more impressive.

Haaland's Distinct Advantage

Of course, fitness issues could potentially disrupt in the final top scorer outcome, but there are two reasons why Haaland is such a strong favourite for the honor so quickly into the term.

To begin with, the quantity of strikes he has currently registered - and, equally significant, the quantity and caliber of opportunities he's receiving.

And second, the modest opening his regular challengers for the honor have made.

Chance Quality Assessment

A footballer's xG statistic (xG) represents how many goals a top-flight footballer has traditionally converted from the total and standard of opportunities he's received.

This doesn't represent a number randomly picked by statistical experts, but by historical Premier League data.

When examining at footballers' expected goals in the English top division so far this campaign from regular situations, the Scandinavian attacker is receiving significantly more good opportunities to score than every other footballer.

In fact, even if Haaland were no better at converting opportunities than every other footballer in the competition, he would nevertheless have converted significantly more goals as the remainder of the league.

Chance Creation Breakdown

That is demonstrated by examining the quantity and caliber of chances that players have had in the Premier League so far.

Haaland has attempted 29 efforts so far this term, 12 more than any other player.

That is actually not that remarkable for him - he had previously registered more non-spot-kick efforts at this juncture in the last two seasons (30 in last season and 34 in the previous term).

What's particularly remarkable even by his standards is the standard of scoring situations he has had this campaign. His attempts have had an expected goals rating of 0.27 on average.

What that figure means is that attackers have typically netted the efforts he's registered at a rate of 27%.

Of players to take at minimum ten attempts, only Stamford Bridge player Enzo Fernandez has had easier chances to score on average - thanks to a several close-range conversions against West Ham and Brighton.

City striker's xG statistic of 0.27 is significantly greater than the 0.17 xG per effort he had at the start of last season.

To summarize, the scoring situations he has had in the current season have been significantly more straightforward to score from in a realigned Citizens squad than those at the opening of last term.

Past Performance Analysis

Starting a season so strongly is, as noted earlier, not uncommon for Haaland. Following seven matches last campaign he had scored 10 goals - four additional compared to every other footballer and half-dozen more than Mohamed Salah.

However, it was the Reds attacker who secured the scoring title with 29 goals, seven more than the Manchester City striker.

During the current term, while Haaland has begun spectacularly, Salah has netted fifty percent fewer goals and had fifty percent fewer opportunities (xG) than at this stage last season.

Actually this has been the quietest start to a Premier League term the Egypt forward has made.

Competitors' Modest Opening

It is not just Salah who has started slowly either. Upon reviewing at the highest eleven attackers in the English top division last term, Haaland has registered an equal amount goals as the other 10 players collectively so far.

Whether due to fitness issues - multiple prominent forwards - long-running transfer sagas in one particular striker's situation or just due to the fact that their teams have struggled (multiple established scorers), Haaland's likely rivals in the battle for the scoring title have failed to perform so far.

Continental Scoring Title Battle

While Haaland looks the obvious frontrunner for the Premier League scoring title, what about the Continental scoring award that is awarded to the footballer scoring the most in Europe's premier competitions?

That competition is considerably more open at this opening period because two elite attackers have also started in excellent condition, with 11 and 9 conversions correspondingly.

The reality Haaland has scored so many times and has the highest xG of the three without yet taking any from the penalty spot renders him the favourite.

Yet given that Kane and Mbappe are some of the most excellent converters in continental soccer in terms of overperforming their xG, the battle continues intensely.