Chelsea v Manchester City LIVE: Premier League result and final score after Mateo Kovacic scores stunner
Man City began their title defence with a confident victory at Stamford Bridge against Enzo Maresca’s Chelsea side
Erling Haaland scored his 91st goal in his 100th appearance for Manchester City on Sunday as the champions kicked off their Premier League title defence with a lively 2-0 away win over Chelsea.
The big Norwegian, fed by Bernardo Silva, forced his way between Marc Cucurella and Wesley Fofana and finished neatly past Robert Sanchez in the 18th minute.
Former Chelsea midfielder Mateo Kovacic made sure of victory for the visitors six minutes from time, racing through a disorganised Chelsea midfield and thumping the ball into Sanchez’s net.
Chelsea, in their first Premier League outing under new manager Enzo Maresca, fashioned some hopeful attacking moves through Cole Palmer, Nicolas Jackson and recent signing Pedro Neto but were largely outclassed by their more composed visitors.
The more things change at Chelsea, the more they stay the same
For all the ructions of Chelsea’s summer and the potential for huge upheaval this season, the campaign has started in as predictable a manner as it could have. Erling Haaland scored. Manchester City won 2-0. There was even the little lesson of Mateo Kovacic scoring the clinching goal after beating the two £200m-plus midfielders signed to replace him, with Enzo Fernandez not exactly showing the kind of resolve that would be expected of a captain.
His temporary elevation to that status will bring questions after a summer where he was forced to apologise to teammates after being caught on video chanting racist and homophobic slurs against members of the French team amid Argentina’s Copa America celebrations.
It was almost fitting that the game had two off-field stories before it - or the season - had even started. That came with the Chelsea line-up, which should be less surprising given that the sheer number of players is going to create issues every week.
The more things change at Chelsea, the more they stay the same
Chelsea 0-2 Manchester City: More questions off the field gave way to continuing problems on it for the hosts as Erling Haaland and Mateo Kovacic secured three points for the champions
Up next
For City, their first home match of the season next week sees them welcome newly promoted Ipswich Town on 24 August. They then have a rest until the next weekend, when they play West Ham away.
Chelsea play the first leg of their Europa Conference League play-off on Thursday, at home to Swiss side Servette. Three days later, they’ll play Wolves away.
Next round of Premier League fixtures
Below are the Premier League fixtures for gameweek two!
Saturday, 24 August (all 3pm unless stated)
Brighton vs. Manchester United (12.30pm)
Tottenham vs. Everton
Crystal Palace vs. West Ham
Southampton vs. Nottingham Forest
Fulham vs Leicester
Man City vs. Ipswich
Aston Villa vs. Arsenal (5.30pm)
Sunday, 25 August
Bournemouth vs. Newcastle (2pm)
Wolves vs. Chelsea (2pm)
Liverpool vs. Brentford (4.30pm)
Match facts
City have won their opening Premier League game in 13 of the last 14 seasons – the last time they failed to win the opener was against Spurs in 2021/22, when they lost 1-0.
City are now on a 10-game winning streak in the league – the seventh time they’ve done that, and twice more than any other side.
Chelsea’s starting eleven didn’t feature a player over the age of 26, and had an average age of 23 years and 180 days. All four subs were aged 25 or under too! They also became just second side in Premier League history to give out four debuts in one match.
A reminder of how this weekend has gone so far in the Premier League then (with match reports attached). The final match of the first week sees Spurs travel to newly promoted Leicester tomorrow night.
Fri, 16 August – Manchester United 1-0 Fulham
Sat, 17 August – Ipswich 0-2 Liverpool
Sat, 17 August – Arsenal 2-0 Wolves
Sat, 17 August – Newcastle 1-0 Southampton
Sat, 17 August – Nottingham Forest 1-1 Bournemouth
Sat, 17 August – Everton 0-3 Brighton
Sat, 17 August – West Ham 1-2 Aston Villa
Sun, 18 August – Brentford 2-1 Crystal Palace
Sun, 18 August – Chelsea 0-2 Man City
FULL-TIME! Chelsea 0-2 Man City - reaction
The Sky pitchside debate has centred around Chelsea and their fortunes. Micah Richards is critical of Nico Jackson, asking whether he is “a top striker”.
“Two chances [he missed] – one where he shouldn’t have been offside. He just gambled too early, and the other one was a difficult chance but a top striker would have put it either side of Ederson.
“These are the things he needs to get better at if he wants to be a top striker.”
Their words are a lot more positive for Haaland, of course, praising how he has “brought back into fashion” the more traditional number nine role and style of play.
FULL-TIME! Chelsea 0-2 Man City
Romeo Lavia has taken the media duties among the Chelsea players. He thinks that “there were a lot of positives to take from the game”.
“We were expecting goals today and we had a lot of chances. We need to take the positives and move on.
“We felt like we had the chance to come out on top and that didn’t happen. It’s a very good team so we have to take the good things and move on to the next game. You can find a lot of reasons why they won today. Just focus on the next one.
“There are 38 games in the season. There’s something growing and you can see that on the pitch. The result didn’t go our way today but the way we played is where we want to be.
“I’m grateful to the club and the medical staff for helping me through the struggles of last season. Pre-season helped me to play today. it wasn’t easy because no-one wants to be injured. I had to see the positives and think I wanted to be ready for next season.”
Raheem Sterling is the latest victim of Chelsea’s never-ending revolution
Since Sergio Aguero’s heyday, two players have delivered 30 goals in a season for Manchester City. As one darted between two defenders to open the scoring for the champions at Stamford Bridge, it may have seemed like Clearlake Capital’s decision to raid the Etihad Stadium in 2022 had paid a rich dividend. As a footballer who has moved between Chelsea and City burst forward to curl in a long-range shot to double that advantage, Todd Boehly got to his feet: but to leave, not to celebrate. To some disbelief, the scorer of the second was the distinctly unprolific Mateo Kovacic. With a certain inevitability, the breakthrough came from Erling Haaland. Meanwhile, the previous man to earn entry to City’s 30 club was nowhere to be seen.
Nowadays Raheem Sterling finds himself in a different kind of group: the Chelsea nonpersons. They are the exiles, the unwanted, the abandoned. Romelu Lukaku was the club-record signing, Kepa Arrizabalaga the most expensive goalkeeper in history, Ben Chilwell the vice-captain, Conor Gallagher the local favourite. Sterling was the flagship signing at the start of a new era. He has not even proved the best wide attacker Chelsea have signed from City in the last two years
Raheem Sterling is the latest victim of Chelsea’s unending thirst for revolution
Sterling’s agent responded to his suprise omission from Sunday’s matchday squad with a statement demanding clarity over his future – but that is in short supply at Stamford Bridge these days
FULL-TIME! Chelsea 0-2 Man City
Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca also spoke to Sky Sports after his competitive debut. He thinks that Chelsea “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.
“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.
“In terms of chances, we had the same. Keeping the ball was more or less there. We don’t like to lose. We just need to continue.”
On Raheem Sterling’s statement, he says: “To be honest, I didn’t see the statement. I have nothing to say. It was a tactical decision, no more than that. In the next day, we will clarify in case we need to. I have been clear, it’s a tactical decision. I didn’t see it.”
FULL-TIME! Chelsea 0-2 Man City
Guradiola looks pleased, obviously, as he speaks to Sky. He says that he “didn’t expect” this result and performance.
“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.
“There is a plan, defensive, offensive. But afterwards it’s how we celebrate the good moments and come back from the bad moments.
“That’s what defines these teams and no one talks about it. For a while we could never win at Stamford Bridge. This is a big step.”
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