Is Dan Burn the man to stop Erling Haaland?
Norway v England at 10pm Saturday night (UK time) and the prize a place in the World Cup semi-finals.
Erling Haaland has scored seven goals (so far..) in four Norway matches at the 2026 World Cup finals.
When you add in the 16 goals scored in Norway’s eight World Cup group qualifiers, it is just beyond belief from Erling Haaland, 23 goals in the last 12 competitive matches for his country.
How do England stop him? Can England stop him?
Something else that is beyond belief though, is the Erling Haaland record against Newcastle United.
Since the Scary Viking joining them in summer 2022, Manchester City have played Newcastle United on 13 occasions
How many times has Erling Haaland scored against Newcastle United? Only once.
That single goal from the Norwegian goal machine against Eddie Howe’s team came on 21 August 2022, it was the third Premier League match of the season and Haaland’s third Premier League appearance.
The next four years have seen Erling Haaland fail to score a single goal in any of the 12 matches where Man City have played Newcastle in the three domestic competitions.
So are these compelling statistics that ‘prove’ Dan Burn has to start on Saturday for England against Erling Haaland in this World Cup showdown?
Here is a brief explanation of the basic details regarding Erling Haaland and Dan Burn, their histories when United have played Man City:
August 2022 – Newcastle United 3 Manchester City 3
(Haaland played full match and scored one goal. Burn played but was left-back, Schar and Botman in the middle of defence)
March 2023 – Manchester City 2 Newcastle United 0
(Haaland played full match, Burn at left-back with Lascelles and Botman in the middle) of defence)
August 2023 – Manchester City 1 Newcastle United 0
(Haaland played full match. Burn played but was left-back, Schar and Botman in the middle of defence)
September 2023 – Newcastle United 1 Manchester City 0 (League Cup)
(Neither Haaland nor Burn played in this match)
January 2024 – Newcastle United 2 Manchester City 3
(Haaland didn’t play, Burn played but was left-back, Schar and Botman in the middle of defence)
March 2024 – Manchester City 2 Newcastle United 0 (FA Cup)
(Haaland played 87 minutes. An NUFC back five that had Schar, Lascelles and Botman as the three central defenders, Burn at left wing-back)
September 2024 – Newcastle United 1 Manchester City 1
(Haaland played full match, Schar and Burn in the middle of defence)
February 2025 – Manchester City 4 Newcastle United 0
(Haaland played 88 minutes, Schar and Burn in the middle of defence)
November 2025 – Newcastle United 2 Manchester City 1
(Haaland played full match but Burn not involved, Schar and Thiaw in the middle of defence)
January 2026 – Newcastle United 0 Manchester City 2 (League Cup)
(Haaland played full match but no Burn, Thiaw and Botman in the middle of defence)
February 2026 – Manchester City 3 Newcastle United 1 (League Cup)
(Haaland played last 19 minutes, an NUFC back five with Thiaw, Botman and Burn the three central defenders)
February 2026 – Manchester City 2 Newcastle United 1
(Haaland full match, Thiaw and Burn in the middle of defence)
March 2026 – Newcastle United 1 Manchester City 3 (FA Cup)
(Haaland not playing and Burn came on for the last 27 minutes, Newcastle started with Thiaw and Botman in the middle of defence)
If you told anybody unaware of the stats, they wouldn’t believe for one second that Erling Haaland hadn’t been able to score against Newcastle United in the four years that have followed his first ever game against NUFC. Especially when these next 12 meetings have produced 27 Manchester City goals, quite incredible he hasn’t scored a single one of those 27.
Ahead of the World Cup clash, I have seen a lot of people talking about the Dan Burn story vs Erling Haaland in club football and whether it means BDB should start.
I had seen the claims vary and often it was people claiming that Erling Haaland had never scored when Dan Burn was playing for Newcastle. It often portrayed as well, as though all the Newcastle v Man City matches had seen Burn and Haaland up against each other all match, every match.
As you can see from my analysis above, it hasn’t been quite that when it comes to the reality.
In fact, going on the above, the ideal person to mark Erling Haaland on Saturday would have been Sven Botman!
For a number of reasons though Sven isn’t available for Thomas Tuchel, mainly because the Newcastle defender is Dutch.
However, of the options that are open to Tuchel, I honestly think that cometh the hour cometh the man, Dan Burn is easily the best choice to go up against Erling Haaland. It has most often been Botman who has chiefly marked Haaland in the club games, but games such as the September 2024 1-1 draw at SJP and the February 2026 2-1 Man City win at the Etihad, have seen Dan Burn mark the elite striker to great effect.
If England were playing against pretty much any other country, against any other striker, I wouldn’t be saying Dan Burn should start for sure.
For this one though I think it is a no-brainer. In the Brazil game Erling Haaland knocked Gabriel about physically and also easily beat him in the air to score the opening goal. Dan Burn ticks both those boxes when it comes to matching up with Haaland, then having a Konsa or Guehi with pace to back up the Geordie defender.
I think set-pieces could be crucial and whilst Dan Burn hasn’t always man-marked Erling Haaland in open play, when they have met in club football, Burn has played a big part in defending against the Norwegian at set-pieces.
A huge decision for Thomas Tuchel to make, but for me, there is only one candidate that should be considered against Haaland.