'Ridiculous amount of games' - has Haaland played too much football? The robot is malfunctioning and in need of a reset. Erling Haaland made a blistering start to the season but that prolific run of form has suffered a glitch. Though the Manchester City and Norway striker has scored a remarkable 39 goals in just 36 games for club and country this season, he has hit a sticky patch of form with only one goal in his past eight games. This has coincided with Pep Guardiola's men falling off the pace in the Premier League title race and suffering a monumental shock at Bodo/Glimt in the Champions League.

'He lives for the goals' - robot Haaland returns from malfunction Is Erling Haaland a big fan of Peter Crouch - or is he actually programmed like a robot? That may - or not be - a question posed after Manchester City's impressive Premier League victory over in-form Bournemouth on Sunday. The Norway striker malfunctioned for only the second time this season when he failed to score in last weekend's loss at Aston Villa, but he was back to being a goal machine with a ruthlessly efficient first-half double against the Cherries. If he is hiding any nuts and bolts under those blonde locks of his, Haaland did prove he was still human by missing a couple of chances to complete his hat-trick. But his scary statistics this season have left many in awe of the 25-year-old's prowess in front of goal, prompting a robot dance to mark his opener in the win that took his side up to second place.

Brighton have won at Old Trafford in each of the past three seasons but can Manchester United get the better of them on Saturday? People get angry whenever I don't back United to win but why should I trust them? said BBC Sport football expert Chris Sutton. They got a great result against Liverpool last time out, but it would be typical of them to follow that by losing this game. Sutton is making predictions for all 380 Premier League games this season, against AI, BBC Sport readers and a variety of guests. For week nine, he takes on The Charlatans guitarist Mark Collins, who supports Manchester United. The Charlatans' 14th album, We Are Love, is out on 31 October and they tour the UK in December.

Borussia Dortmund returned to winning ways in the Bundesliga in emphatic style on Matchday 22 with a thumping 4-0 win away to fierce local rivals Schalke, but it was Erling Haaland, and his first of two goals in particular, that grabbed the headlines. BVB have slid down the table in recent weeks, winning just one of their six league outings preceding Saturday's trip to Schalke, but served a reminder to their local neighbours that they remain the Ruhr region's top dogs, scoring twice in each half to condemn the struggling Royal Blues to a 15th defeat of the season. And Haaland was instrumental in that. Schalke had fought doggedly for much of the first half, but Jadon Sancho's opener on 42 minutes had given Dortmund a deserved lead before Haaland set his seal on the game on the stroke of half-time. Standing at 6'4" and weighing 194 pounds it is usually not a fair fight for defenders, but if not all players are created made equal, neither are all goals. Seeing Sancho receive the ball on the left-hand edge of the Schalke penalty area, Haaland instantly began to peel away from his marker, Bastian Oczipka. Sancho spotted it and floated a cross towards his teammate, who hung in the air before executing a sublime sideways scissors-kick with his left foot into the net from 16 yards. "It was a nice goal," Haaland told bundesliga.com "Obviously it was a good assist from Jadon.

This article was developed with Kevin Haaland, CTO of The Better Software Company, a SaaS platform to small business and franchise owners. Haaland was formerly the head of IBM's Watson Analytics. From Siri to Alexa, customers are becoming accustomed to AI-powered solutions and soon they will expect the same for their local businesses. Sure, an AI roll-out can be daunting, but by adopting a strategic approach and adding smart software, small businesses will not only be able to differentiate themselves from competitors, but compete with the industry giants as well. While many over complicate the technology, AI's behaviors are predictable – it's merely an advanced system that is trained, not told.