Any criticism that had been momentarily lodged at Manchester City star striker Erling Haaland has quickly been silenced with the Norwegian returning to top form once again. 

Haaland netted a hattrick inside 14 minutes as Manchester City blew away Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Premier League clash at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday.

While Manchester City continued to rack up chances after gaining a foothold in the first half, it was only five minutes before halftime that they were able to break the deadlock. As usual, Haaland get on the end of a wonderful Kevin de Bruyne cross from the right half-space and headed the ball home to ensure that City went into the break with a goal advantage.

That advantage was doubled soon after on the other side of the break. Ilkay Gundogan was tripped in the box by Ruben Neves and Haaland stepped up to take his side’s penalty and successfully converted at the 50th-minute mark.

Less than four minutes later, he was on hand to receive Riyad Mahrez’s pass in a dangerous position. 

The in-form striker found the bottom left corner with ease and beyond Wolves goalkeeper Jose Sa to grab his hat trick.

Thanks to the three goals, Haaland’s Premier League goals tally has already climbed to 25 this season in just January. In fact, it’s already two more than Mohamed Salah and Heung-min Son scored as the joint Premier League goalscorers last season.

Haaland has also become the fastest player to score four Premier League hat-tricks. It took him only 19 games to reach that tally, overtaking the previous record held by Manchester United’s Ruud Van Nistelrooy who took 65 matches to get to that mark.

Prior to last weekend’s fixture with Tottenham Hotspur, Haaland had entered a mini-goal drought for Manchester City, if it can be at all called that. He had gone three games without scoring but has dispensed any doubters following his star-studded performance against the Wolves.

His remarkable 25-goal league haul from 19 matches would have been enough to win the Premier League Golden Boot in each of the previous four seasons. However, Dixie Dean’s record of 60 league goals from 1928 will surely remain in Haaland’s sight.

Three points against Wolves helped Manchester City cut down the deficit to league leaders Arsenal to just two points, although the Gunners will be involved in action later against Manchester United.