Haaland and Kovacic help Man City win opening game

Erling Haaland and Mateo Kovacic made the difference as Manchester City started their Premier League title defence with a 2-0 win away to Chelsea.

Man City’s win came in a comfortable style as Pep Guardiola triumphs in the battle against Enzo Maresca, formerly under his tutelage.

It took 18 minutes for the reigning champion to take the lead as Haaland opened his account for the new season after receiving a pass from Bernardo Silva before bulldozing past the Chelsea defence and firing home the lead.

Chelsea thought they had drawn level just before the break when Nicolas Jackson netted a rebound after Ederson spilled Cole Palmer’s shot. However, VAR intervened, and the goal was ruled out for offside.

Both teams kept pushing hard as debutant Pedro Neto provided a spark for Chelsea but was not enough to give the Blues an equaliser.

In the 65th minute, Rico Lewis smashed home to double the lead for the Citizens, but a foul from Haaland on Levi Colwill in the build-up ruled the goal out.

The Blues had a penalty appeal that Anthony Taylor waved away as Malo Gusto’s attempt to send the ball back into the area hit Mateo Kovacic’s elbow, who later sealed the win for Man City.

Kovacic got the better of Moises Caicedo and Enzo Fernandez before firing past Robert Sanchez, who had made crucial saves during the game. The Croatian did not celebrate against his former side, but helped his current one to all three points, extending Manchester City’s unbeaten run to 24 Premier League games.

Enzo Maresca lost his first Premier League game in charge of Chelsea as Manchester City beat them 2-0 at Stamford Bridge, beginning their latest title defence in style.

Despite the defeat, Maresca was pleased with what he had seen from his side, claiming his team matched up to City’s performance despite the loss.

He said, “I think we competed very well for much of the game. We were similar if not better. The performance was there but we didn’t take the chances. Probably the big difference was inside the box. I’m quite happy in terms of performance, we don’t like to lose, we just need to continue.”

Chelsea, meanwhile, are winless in their last seven league meetings with Man City (D2 L5), since a 2-1 away win in May 2021, and will have to recover before their next top-flight trip to Wolves on Sunday.

Manchester City will continue the campaign as they welcome newly promoted side, Ipswich at Anfield as they hope to secure their fifth consecutive Premier League trophy.

Also, Erling Haaland hope to take advantage of Ipswich as the Premier League Golden Boot winner begins the journey to win his third consecutive EPL golden boot award, having scored his 91st Man City goal on his 100th club appearance during opener against Chelsea.