Martin Keown has compared Erling Haaland to childhood movie character Tarzan after the Manchester City striker let down his hair before bagging his side’s fourth goal in their 4-1 thrashing of Arsenal on Wednesday.
Haaland broke the Premier League’s all-time goals record for a single season as he notched his 33rd goal of the campaign, beating Liverpool forward’s Mohamed Salah’s previous record.
Former Arsenal defender Keown made the comparison when analysing Haaland’s stellar performance, telling BT Sport: ‘He is driving force, they had good players that need to be managed and information to take onboard.
‘Haaland took time to gel but now in other gears, today he was like Tarzan on the pitch, he let his hair down at the end, now he has settled in he has let his hair down a bit and is even better.
The Norwegian usually keeps his hair wrapped up in a bun but decided to release his golden locks as full-time approached.
Erling Haalnd (right) showed off his golden locks as Manchester City thumped Arsenal
The Norwegian (right) celebrated scoring Manchester City’s fourth goal against Arsenal
Haaland’s long hair blustered behind him as he ran off to celebrate at the Etihad on Wednesday
Haaland (right) broke the Premier League’s goals record for a single season against Arsenal
Haaland’s mane blustered in the wind as he burst forward to punish Arsenal at the death with a perfectly-executed finish that beat Aaron Ramsdale in stoppage time.
The Arsenal goalkeeper had previously denied Haaland with a series of excellent stops, most notably when in a one-v-one with the forward in the second-half.
An unhappy Keown was unimpressed by the ineffective defending of centre-back pairing Rob Holding and Gabriel as they unsuccessfully tried to cope with the record-breaking striker.
Keown was renowned for his aggressive style that helped Arsenal win three Premier League titles during his time at the club and explained it looked ‘easy’ for Haaland in the crunch clash.
‘If I was playing, Haaland would be all I am thinking about,’ said Keown.
Haaaland was playing with his hair tied in a bun (left) but let it down towards the end of the match
Former Arsenal defender Martin Keown compared Haaland to childhood movie character Tarzan
‘He lost that battle, Holding, that very first challenge they concede, Haaland was strutting around.
‘It looked really easy for him at times, Arsenal’s young players will learn quickly.’
Meanwhile lifelong Gunners supporter Piers Morgan fumed that his club had given the Premier League title over to City.
The Gunners still maintain a two-point lead over the chasing City pack but will be overtaken if their opponents win their two games in hand.
