Chelsea 0-2 Manchester City: Erling Haaland and Mateo Kovacic score

A win for Manchester City and a goal for Erling Haaland. As for Chelsea, this was another day of noise and confusion. Now that the start of the 2024/25 Premier League season has rolled around, little has changed.

City manager Pep Guardiola rested half a team and still saw his side win. Just once in the last fourteen seasons has this not happened.

Chelsea’s new coach Enzo Maresca, meanwhile, somehow managed to choose eleven from his squad of 43, left Raheem Sterling out altogether and handed the captaincy to Enzo Fernandez, a player filmed singing racist songs about the French in the wake of Argentina’s Copa America success in July.

Let it not be said that Maresca, who has French players in his squad and was once an assistant of Guardiola’s at City, does not know his own mind.

In terms of the way his team played, there have been worse Chelsea performances over the course of these recent years of head scratching policy. Maresca’s players were committed and united but, ultimately, not quite good enough, particularly when it came to the tricky matter of creativity.

City were not at their scintillating best either. Guardiola had said they wouldn’t be due to the exertions of the summer. As if to prove the point, England’s Euro 2024 players Phil Foden, Kyle Walker and John Stones began on the bench.

They were good enough to win comfortably, though. Norway were not at the Euros so Haaland spent the summer with his feet up. The City forward looked fresh and scored from close range in the 18th minute. Then, after Chelsea had briefly threatened a late surge on the back of some attacking substitutions, former Stamford Bridge midfielder Mateo Kovacic ran too easily through midfield and scored from 25 yards via a deflection with six minutes of normal time remaining.

It was a reasonably reflective scoreline by the end. For all their heavy spending of recent years. Chelsea have still not found a way to score enough goals. City, meanwhile, fielded their one signing of the summer, the Brazilian Savinho, and he was excellent for 45 minutes before taking a knock to his knee.

Doku had started on the right but, having experienced no joy against the Spanish Euro 2024 winner Marc Cucurella, had switched over to the left after fifteen minutes. It was the Belgian’s ball inside to Bernardo Silva that caused Chelsea their initial problem as central defender Levi Colwill was pulled marginally out of position as he tried to close the situation down. This meant that when Silva moved the ball quickly on to Haaland, Cucurella was exposed. Strength and timing in the tackle was required but the Chelsea left-back produced neither and Haaland was able to take control and lift the ball over goalkeeper Robert Sanchez and in to the goal.

For Chelsea a tricky afternoon immediately grew harder. With the crowd singing for exiled midfielder Conor Gallagher, there was no shortage of issues on and off the field.

Haaland, for his part, was immediately recognisable. He took three minutes to score his first Premier League goal of last season as City won at Burnley. Here, he waited fifteen minutes longer.

City had been the better team early on without quite finding their recognisable rhythm. Their two wide players – Jeremy Doku and Savinho – had provided the threat with some direct and positive running but there had been no clear chances.

Haaland often only needs one, though, and here he gleefully profited from some indecisive Chelsea defending to edge the defending champions ahead.

In terms of the football, Chelsea did not immediately respond. Kevin de Bruyne drove a low shot wide and then Savinho pulled a pass back to Kovacic whose effort was blocked. Chelsea were not short of industry but in the first half an hour at least, could not obtain enough possession or territory to lay a platform. At the base of the home team’s midfield, Moises Caicedo and Romeo Lavia played together for the first time but even this wasn’t enough.

There were a couple of penalty shouts for Chelsea – both waved away correctly by referee Anthony Taylor – while Nicolas Jackson rolled the ball in to the net after City goalkeeper Ederson fumbled a low shot from Cole Palmer. Jackson was, unfortunately for him and his team, about six inches offside when Palmer took his shot and the celebrations died in Chelsea’s throats.

Palmer had been his team’s best player in the first half. Stationed out on the right in the position where Raheem Sterling started last season, it is maybe little wonder Maresca sees little future at Stamford Bridge for the older man.

Chelsea at least reached the break having played an increasing part in the game. City carried the greater threat. Their passing was more incisive and their running off the ball carried greater intelligence. But Chelsea’s more direct brand of football had kept them in touch at least and they will not have been disheartened to note that Savinho didn’t reappear for the start of the second half. He had been a thorn in their side until the moment he took a knock to the knee in the 40th minute. The 20-year-old was replaced by Phil Foden.

City were first to threaten in the second period, though, as Haaland brought a flying save from Sanchez with a left foot curler from inside the area. It was a good chance but a pretty routine save to repel a shot struck too close to the goalkeeper.

Maresca then sough to freshen things up in order to find another way in a game City had not managed to take away from them. Pedro Neto, signed for £50m from Wolves during the summer, was sent on and almost moved on to Fernandez’s low cross to the far post. Neto seemed set to score with almost his first touch but young City full-back Rico Lewis reached the ball marginally ahead of him.

There were also soon Premier League Chelsea debuts for Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, signed from Maresca’s old club Leicester, and also the 18-year-old Spaniard Marc Guiu.

Before that, however, Jackson came devilishly close to equalising. A loose ball on the edge of the penalty area was nodded back towards goal by Lavia and when Jackson hooked it on from six yards Ederson did terrifically well to stand tall and keep it out with both hands raised.

Evidence, then, that City still needed a second goal and with fifteen minutes remaining they hadn’t really come that close to scoring it. By this stage Chelsea had matched their opponents for touches in the penalty area but had struggled to make clear chances. That was perhaps the key difference.

City were not at their best. Nowhere near it. They had been resolute, though, and that was threatening to be enough. And when Kovacic was able to move too easily past Caicedo and Fernandez in centre field with six minutes left, he released a shot that beat Sanchez via touches from the chest of Colwill and the goalkeeper’s left hand post.