- Goals from Erling Haaland and Mateo Kovacic help Man City beat Chelsea
- Blues left Raheem Sterling out of matchday squad
- Fans took notice of Haaland winning battle with Marc Cucurella
Manchester City got their Premier League title defence off to a solid start as they held off a spirited but flawed Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Sunday afternoon.
The Cityzens had watched on as Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United all started with wins on the first weekend of the league season but were quickly back on the ball as goals from Erling Haaland and Mateo Kovacic helped them to victory in London.
Here's how X saw all the action unfold...
Drama is never far away at Stamford Bridge and there were loud gasps throughout the social media landscape before a ball had even been kicked.
Chelsea were always bound to leave a few significant players out of their matchday squad as City visited west London, but Raheem Sterling was not expected to be one of them.
The former Cityzen forward was denied the chance to make an impression against his old club by head coach Enzo Maresca, who omitted him from his squad altogether. Sterling's representatives admitted they are now seeking "clarity" over the situation, while Maresca claimed his decision to leave the England international out was purely a "technical" one.
Raheem Sterling left out of the squad? Maresca, you actually might be the man we’ve needed all this time 😍
— Lucy 💫 (@CFC_Lucy) August 18, 2024
Questionable timing but this a blatant case of a club trying to force a player out as they pursue their 25th wide attacker #cfc https://t.co/ET2vOCRUS2
— Krishan Davis (@krishan_davis) August 18, 2024
Nah there’s no problem at all with having that many players though 🫡 https://t.co/BQSKTlVTSM
— Scott Saunders (@__scottsaunders) August 18, 2024
It was a bad PR start to the afternoon for Chelsea but things went a little better when their clash with the Premier League champions eventually kicked off, managing to keep their opponents out for a quarter of an hour having shipped four to them in a pre-season friendly only a couple of weeks ago.
However, despite a start of relative promise, the Blues went behind as an inevitable goalscorer reminded everyone of his stature.
A ball infield was nudged on by Bernardo Silva to Haaland, who had found space between Wesley Fofana and Levi Colwill and held off arch nemesis Marc Cucurella to deftly dink in his 91st goal for City on his 100th appearance for the club.
Haaland's opener was his 91st City goal in 100 games. 🤯
— 90min (@90min_Football) August 18, 2024
Generational. ✨ pic.twitter.com/uOgCrhj8do
July, 15 - Cucurella: "Haaland, you'd better tremble, as Cucurella is coming..."
— City Xtra (@City_Xtra) August 18, 2024
August, 18: Haaland bodies Cucurella in a one-vs-one to give #ManCity the lead against Chelsea. pic.twitter.com/jUp1U4hzo6
Chelsea did manage to find holes in the City armoury and might have equalised from a penalty had Savinho been penalised for a clumsy hack on Enzo Fernandez.
The call didn't go in the hosts' favour, however, and shortly before half-time Nicolas Jackson had the home supporters cursing his lack of respect for the offside rule as his strike was ruled out.
#CHEMCI - 33’
— Premier League Match Centre (@PLMatchCentre) August 18, 2024
VAR checked a potential penalty for a challenge by Savinho on Enzo and confirmed the referee’s call of no penalty.
Savinho might ( he has) get away with that because the Enzo touch was so bad
— Sam Lee (@SamLee) August 18, 2024
#CHEMCI – 44’
— Premier League Match Centre (@PLMatchCentre) August 18, 2024
VAR checked and confirmed the referee’s call of no goal as Jackson was in an offside position. pic.twitter.com/uppXJQpk16
Literally zero reason for Jackson to be offside there ffs
— Rory Talks Football (@Rory_Talks_Ball) August 18, 2024
•Nicolas Jackson was born offside• pic.twitter.com/JEaWYZGdhu
— SimpsonsEFL (@EflSimpsons) August 18, 2024
The second half was a case of so close and yet so far for Chelsea, who huffed and puffed in the final third without managing to find the leveller to earn Maresca any points from his first official game in charge.
Instead, Pep Guardiola's outfit put the game beyond any doubt late on through a former Blue. Croatian midfielder Mateo Kovacic galloped past Moises Caicedo and Enzo Fernandez and struck towards goal, catching Robert Sanchez unaware at the near post.
See if Kovacic could do that more than once a season he might be the best midfielder in the league🤣 Goal aside, he’s been absolutely fantastic today. Deputized for Rodri brilliantly👏🏼
— Lyés (@LyesBouzidi10) August 18, 2024
That proved to take the sting out of Chelsea's subsequent charges forward, with City holding on comfortably to secure a 2-0 win and start their Premier League title defence in successful fashion.
