New Erling Haaland goalscoring record highlights how special Sunderland striker was

There is no better time to remember when Sunderland boasted the hottest striker on the planet.

A long standing record belonging to Sunderland was broken this week, with Erling Haaland displacing Kevin Phillips as the fastest player to score 20 Premier League goals.

Haaland achieved it in a remarkable 14 matches, and you really have to doff your cap to that. Of course, he has done it playing in a world class team surrounded by world class players with a world class coach funded by mega-rich multibillionaires, but goals are goals.  

Before Haaland, the 21 games it took Kevin Phillips to score 20 Premier League goals in the 1999/2000 season was the benchmark for brilliance. Not Sergio Aguero, Alan Shearer, Thierry Henry, Harry Kane, Fernando Torres, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Luis Suarez or any other legends you'd like to mention - Kevin Phillips of Sunderland.

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Kevin Phillips' first 21 Premier League games

Game	Opposition	Result	Kevin Phillips goals
Game 1	Chelsea	0-4	-
Game 2	Watford	2-0	2
Game 3	Arsenal	0-0	-
Game 4	Leeds	1-2	1
Game 5	Newcastle	2-1	1
Game 6	Coventry	1-1	1
Game 7	Leicester	2-0	0
Game 8	Derby	5-0	3
Game 9	Sheffield Wednesday	1-0	0
Game 10	Bradford	4-0	2
Game 11	Aston Villa	2-1	2
Game 12	West Ham	1-1	1
Game 13	Tottenham	2-1	0
Game 14	Middlesbrough	1-1	0
Game 15	Liverpool	0-2	0
Game 16	Watford	3-2	2
Game 17	Chelsea	4-1	2
Game 18	Southampton	2-0	2
Game 19	Wimbledon	0-1	0
Game 20	Arsenal	1-4	0
Game 21	Leeds	1-2	1

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It's actually quite difficult to explain to younger Sunderland supporters just how good Kevin Phillips was back then. That is probably because there is no real modern frame of reference. 

Last season, for example, only two players - Mo Salah and Son Heung-min - scored 20 goals in the whole season, and they were playing for teams who qualified for the Champions League. The season before that it was Salah and Harry Kane. 

Kevin Phillips, though, had achieved it by the end of January, for a newly promoted club, and went on to hit the 30-goal mark that season and win the European Golden boot. 

Sadly, that record has now gone, although it takes nothing away from Phillips. If anything it only serves to highlight just how brilliant he was. If you want to be reminded, you can see all 30 of his goals that season here.

It was one of the most remarkable seasons that any player has ever produced in the Premier League, and English football history, and don't ever let anyone tell you otherwise. 

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