This December marks three decades since Alan Shearer set his remarkable Premier League milestone of scoring 100 goals in just 124 matches. But that long-standing record has now been eclipsed by Erling Haaland, who has raised the bar even higher by reaching the century mark in only 111 games.

Throughout the autumn, Haaland had been scoring in bursts, yet after netting his 99th Premier League goal, the weight of chasing number 100 seemed to linger. The landmark strike eluded him for weeks; since November 9th, he hadn’t found the back of the net in England. Tuesday’s clash against Fulham looked like the ideal moment to break the drought — after all, he had averaged a goal per game across his previous six meetings with The Cottagers.

But when the Manchester City forward struck the post just five minutes in, watching the ball agonizingly roll along the goal line, the so-called curse of the 100th goal felt more real than ever.

That tension lifted in the 17th minute. With his father looking on, the Norwegian raced onto a brilliant delivery from Jeremy Doku on the left and unleashed a thunderous finish, finally ending his wait.

With that strike, Haaland becomes the fastest player in Premier League history to register 100 goals, officially surpassing Shearer’s iconic record. He had hoped to break it at Shearer’s old home ground in Newcastle, but none of his efforts went in there. This time, he made it count.

At just 25 years old, Haaland has reached a century in only 111 Premier League appearances — 13 fewer than Shearer. The rest of the league’s greats trail well behind: Harry Kane needed 141 matches, Sergio Agüero 147, Thierry Henry 160, and Mohamed Salah 162.