Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has admitted that Erling Braut Haaland will be rested at some point this season despite his exceptional form in front of goal.
The 22-year-old became the first player in Premier League history to score a hat-trick in three successive home matches after scoring three in City's 6-3 victory against rivals Manchester United at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday.
Haaland had previously scored hat-tricks in home wins against Crystal Palace and Nottingham Forest, while he has also found the net in games against West Ham United, Newcastle United, Aston Villa and Wolverhampton Wanderers.
The Norway international has now scored a remarkable 14 goals in just eight Premier League games this season, twice as many as his nearest challenger Harry Kane in second place.
Guardiola is not surprised to see Haaland firing on all cylinders having previously had plenty of success in front of goal with former clubs Molde, Red Bull Salzburg and Borussia Dortmund.
"I say it many times and I will say again – what Erling is doing he did in Norway, Austria and Germany," Guardiola told mancity.com.
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"The quality we have alongside him helps him score, but what he is doing I didn't teach him. He has incredible instincts. It comes from his mum and dad. He was born with that."
When asked whether Haaland is the best striker that he has ever worked with during his coaching career, the former Barcelona and Bayern Munich boss said: "I have had incredible centre-forwards in my career.
"What I like was in the last period of the game, he was involved. I want him to be involved. He became a player to score goals, but I want him in contact with the ball.
"I like him being part of those situations. But of course, he has to put the ball in the net, and he is a fantastic striker."
Haaland has started in all of City's first 10 competitive fixtures across all competitions, completing the full 90 minutes on five occasions, but Guardiola has revealed that the striker will be rested when he feels the time is right.
"He will take a break," the Spaniard added. "There will be games he is not going to play.
"We are lucky, last season he could not play many games in a row – here we have incredible physios and thanks to them, he can play every 90 minutes. They are so important – with their hands, they allow players to play."
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Speaking after Sunday's derby triumph against Man United, Haaland expressed his delighted to have come away with another matchball and claims that he felt "something special" would happen for him and the reigning Premier League champions in the Manchester derby.
"It's been good, I felt it a little bit before the game that something special is going to happen and we saw today that some special things happened. It was nice," said the Norwegian.
"On Friday I felt it in the whole training ground. It's these games I want to play in. These are the best games where there's a bit extra.
"Confidence is good, it's always been good. After we played against Liverpool in the Community Shield it was still good after. I think it was good that match happened, that something happened and [I thought] I have to be a bit more ready."
Man City are now the only remaining Premier League team who are yet to lose this season, and they currently sit second in the table, just one point behind leaders Arsenal.
The Citizens play host to Copenhagen in the Champions League on Wednesday night before returning to Premier League action with a home encounter against Southampton next Saturday.
Oliver Thomas
