Erling Haaland scored his 91st purpose in his a centesimal look for Manchester Metropolis because the champions kicked off their English Premier League title defence with a 2-0 away win over Chelsea.
The massive Norwegian, fed by Bernardo Silva, pressured his approach between Marc Cucurella and Wesley Fofana and completed neatly previous Robert Sanchez within the 18th minute.
Former Chelsea midfielder Mateo Kovacic made certain of victory for the guests six minutes from time, racing by a disorganised Chelsea midfield and thumping the ball into Sanchez’s web.
“Three factors, an ideal begin,” Haaland advised Sky Sports activities.
“I knew precisely what to do, I feel it was a extremely good purpose. I keep in mind final yr he made a extremely good save towards me, it had been irritating me for a very long time so, yeah, it was an ideal purpose.”
Chelsea, of their first Premier League outing underneath new supervisor Enzo Maresca, usual some hopeful attacking strikes by Cole Palmer, Nicolas Jackson and up to date signing Pedro Neto however have been largely outclassed by their extra composed guests.
Maresca mentioned: “We have been towards the champions immediately. We’ll proceed and win video games. They’re a grasp of protecting maintain of the ball. The efficiency was there and that’s the predominant factor.”
In the meantime, Maresca added to hypothesis about Raheem Sterling’s Chelsea future when he left the winger out of Sunday’s squad, saying some gamers might need to maneuver on.
“I need Raheem Sterling however I need all of the 30 gamers that we have now, however there isn’t any area for all of them. So for a few of them, they’ve to go away,” Maresca mentioned when requested in regards to the former England striker’s absence.
The Italian mentioned Sterling’s omission was a “technical” determination.
Sterling’s representatives issued an announcement shortly earlier than kick-off, saying the participant had a very good working relationship with Maresca and was dedicated to delivering for Chelsea.
Sterling joined Chelsea from Manchester Metropolis in 2022 however his kind has blown cold and warm for a lot of his time at Stamford Bridge and he was not included in England’s Euro 2024 squad.
Commenting on his facet’s victory, a Metropolis boss Pep Guardiola advised Sky Sports activities: “I didn’t anticipate it.”
“We’re away from our greatest so three factors is the excellent news. The dangerous information is we have now 65 video games forward of us.
“We’ve got a bonus, it’s our ninth season collectively so we all know one another properly.”
Earlier on Sunday, Yoane Wissa’s close-range end gave Brentford a profitable begin to their marketing campaign with a hard-fought 2-1 residence victory over Crystal Palace.
Palace thought that they had the lead after 26 minutes, however Eberechi Eze’s spectacular free-kick was dominated out for a foul by Will Hughes because the ball was struck.
And it was Brentford who grabbed the lead towards the run of play three minutes later when Bryan Mbuemo completed off a sweeping transfer down the suitable, slicing inside and firing into the underside nook.
Palace levelled within the 56th minute when Ethan Pinnock prodded previous his personal keeper, however Wissa scored a scrappy purpose 20 minutes later to earn Brentford the three factors.
England striker Ivan Toney had been neglected of the Bees squad, with head coach Thomas Frank admitting he had been omitted amid “switch curiosity.”
Frank mentioned the choice to go away Toney out was made on Thursday.
“It’s a part of the sport we have now to play, we don’t wish to give an excessive amount of away,” he advised reporters.
© AAP
