Maybe Erling Helland’s dad needs to change his lasagna recipe.

While the burly Norwegian passed through the English top flight from the strain on him Premier League Debut, he put his fertile form into a pasta dish that his father cooked before every game day. After a run of three consecutive Premier League hat-tricks at the Etihad Stadium, Holland Quipped: “He’s been going pretty well every game.”

Those days of endless triplets seem to be of a bygone era. Haaland failed to score for his fourth consecutive outing, his penalty save saved as City were let loose. 1-1 draw with Everton In the first game on Boxing Day.

Haaland’s deflected spot kick was the 11th ‘big chance’ he failed to convert in the past three months – more than any other Premier League player over the same period. who scored.

Haaland is no stranger to wasted opportunities. cityThe No.9 had topped the division’s ‘big chance miss’ chart in each of the previous two seasons. After a particularly brilliant opening in the first Manchester derby of 2024, Haaland said: “People say I’m good at scoring goals but I missed the biggest chance in the world.”

However, for every mistake, there was a burst of successful strikes. It’s not too late.

During this particularly extravagant run of form – which has seen City win just four of their last 13 Premier League matches – Haaland has scored just three goals. 27 different players have scored outs The most feared striker in the worldIncluding Manchester City left-back Josko Guardiol. Exiled Marcus Rashford has also matched Haaland’s tally of three league goals in the last three months.

Holland blamed himself After last weekend’s defeat to Aston Villa. Pep Guardiola made the save His missteps but Thursday afternoon once again pointed to his team’s lack of clinical edge. “The performance against that team was really good offensively and defensively,” declared City’s increasingly embattled boss. “We shot a lot inside the 18-yard box, but unfortunately we didn’t get the result we wanted.”

Manuel Akanji was not so optimistic and all but ruled City out of the title race. “The season isn’t over but that’s not the goal for us at the moment,” sighed the Swiss centre-back. For Haaland, the goal is simply to get back on the scoresheet.

Read the latest Man City news, transfer rumors and gossip