Manchester City started their Premier League title defence with a 2-0 victory at Chelsea.
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Pep Guardiola's team, now unbeaten in 24 Premier League matches, are chasing a record-extending fifth consecutive league title and started their 2024/25 campaign in style at Stamford Bridge. It was in stark contrast to the remarkable 4-4 draw in the corresponding fixture last season.
Erling Haaland chipped in a well-taken opener in the first half of his 100th appearance for City, with his 91st goal for the club paving the way for victory.
Nicolas Jackson responded for Chelsea by having an equaliser ruled out before the break, though Mateo Kovacic's fine finish against his former club put the result beyond all doubt six minutes from time.
Victory saw City – who also had a Rico Lewis goal disallowed – join seven other teams on three points, while Enzo Maresca's Chelsea are just outside the bottom three after his first match in charge.
Match stats: Chelsea 0-2 Man City
How the match unfolded
Haaland needed just 18 minutes to mark his milestone outing, dinking over goalkeeper Robert Sanchez following a deft touch from Bernardo Silva.
Jeremy Doku almost doubled City's lead nine minutes prior to the break but the wrong-footed Sanchez recovered well, before Chelsea thought they had levelled.
Ederson could only parry Cole Palmer's dipping drive as far as Jackson, but the Chelsea striker strayed offside before slotting home from close range in the 44th minute.
Haaland's lunge on Levi Colwill saw Lewis's powerful strike ruled out for a foul after the interval, before Chelsea wanted a penalty when Malo Gusto's cross struck Kovacic's arm in the 77th minute.
VAR confirmed referee Anthony Taylor's decision as Kovacic was in too close proximity to be penalised, and the midfielder had the final say when capping a powerful run with an immaculate right-footed effort into the left corner of Chelsea's goal.
Much to ponder for Maresca
Maresca was somewhat of a left-field choice as the successor to Mauricio Pochettino, with Leicester City's Championship win last season the standout achievement on his managerial CV.
The former Man City elite development coach made his first big Blues call on Sunday, omitting Ben Chilwell and Raheem Sterling from his matchday squad.
Sterling had featured in the opening Premier League match in each of the last 11 seasons, but difficult decisions may be a repeated theme throughout Maresca's first term, as he battles to appease a big squad.
Christopher Nkunku was subbed off before the hour to make way for debutant Pedro Neto, who announced his arrival by teeing up Enzo Fernandez's looping header before Jackson was denied by Ederson.
Maresca's former Leicester charge Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall was also introduced, though Chelsea largely failed to threaten the City defence – an aspect they must improve before their next league outing, a visit to Neto's old side Wolves on Sunday.
Lewis steps up in Rodri’s absence
Questions remained as to how City would perform without Rodri as their star midfielder continues to recover from the injury he suffered in the UEFA EURO 2024 final last month.
Prior to this fixture at Stamford Bridge, City had lost just six times in 102 matches in which Rodri had started, so there were big shoes to fill. Indeed, this was Man City's first win in an away Premier League match without Rodri since February 2022 against Norwich City. They lost their last four without him.
Yet versatile youngster Lewis stepped up and slotted in seamlessly alongside Chelsea old boy Kovacic, allowing Kevin De Bruyne and Silva to play higher in pockets of space.
Silva profited from that freedom, ghosting onto Doku's pass to tee up Haaland's opener with a delicate assist – a feat he almost replicated in the second half, once again linking up with the City striker.
De Bruyne also whipped narrowly wide before Silva forced another low Sanchez stop as Guardiola's advanced pair dragged Chelsea here, there and everywhere.
Lewis's defensive work was as important, though, as the 19-year-old stepped in to clear when Neto was waiting for a back-post tap-in just moments after the winger's introduction.
With or without Rodri, Guardiola has the reliability of Lewis, who was unfortunate not to cap his excellent display with a goal, ahead of promoted Ipswich Town visiting the Etihad Stadium next Saturday.
@ErlingHaaland talks us through our first @premierleague goal of the season! 👌😅 pic.twitter.com/DCZC3rQtpi
— Manchester City (@ManCity) August 18, 2024
See: Chelsea report | Man City report
What the managers say
Enzo Maresca: "For me, the important thing is to create chances. We didn't score but we created chances. The first goal for them was almost offside, we almost scored. These things change results but the performance was good overall. It was quite clear, you can see a team trying to keep the ball and dominate.
"We were against the champions today. We will continue and win games. They are a master in this kind of moment. We had two or three chances. They are a master of keeping hold of the ball. The performance was there and that is the main thing. You can see how they manage the ball."
Pep Guardiola: "I didn't expect it. We are away from our best so three points is the good news. The bad news is we have 65 games ahead of us.
"We have an advantage, it's our ninth season together so we know each other well. Of course there are mistakes you have to improve but we talked, the difference in being champions was our body language, how did we behave?
"It's the bad moments in the season and in the games that define the big teams. For me, it is an honour to be in charge of these guys. I'm so fortunate, I could not say more."
Next Premier League fixtures
Key facts
- Man City have won their opening Premier League match in 13 of the last 14 seasons, with the other game a 1-0 loss to Spurs in 2021/22, while Chelsea have lost their first Premier League match of the season for a third time in the last eight campaigns (W4 D1), as many times as they did in their first 25 seasons in the competition (W16 D6 L3).
- Erling Haaland is the sixth player to score his side's first Premier League goal of the season in three consecutive campaigns (v West Ham in 2022/23, Burnley in 2023/24 and Chelsea in 2024/25) and second for Man City, after David Silva (2013/14, 2014/15, 2015/16).
- Man City have won an away Premier League game without Rodri featuring for the first time since February 2022 against Norwich City. They had lost their previous four away games when the Spanish midfielder had been missing.
- Man City boss Pep Guardiola has now beaten 72 of the 75 managers he has faced in the Premier League, with Enzo Maresca managing his first game in the competition today. The only three he has faced and not beaten are Aitor Karanka (D1), Steve Agnew (D1) and Ronald Koeman (D2 L1).
- Chelsea’s starting XI – which didn’t feature a single player over the age of 26 – had an average age of 23 years and 180 days, the second youngest by a team on MD1 of a Premier League season, behind only Man City’s team in 2008-09 against Aston Villa (22 years, 360 days).