Haaland scored in his 100th match as Manchester City beat Chelsea 2-0 in the Premier League

Manchester City’s Erling Haaland scores his team’s first goal during the English Premier League football match between Chelsea and Manchester City at Stamford Bridge stadium in London. | Photo credit: AP

Erling Haaland scored 91 goals in 100 matches for Manchester City.

The striker played his 100th game for the club by scoring the first goal in a 2-0 win over Chelsea on Sunday as City began their campaign for a fifth consecutive Premier League title.

It took his tally of goals in three league openers to five since joining City in 2022 and showed the Norwegian is fully rested after a summer without international football.

“I had the feeling that this time he felt better than last season,” City manager Pep Guardiola said. “He felt good, and the goal was fantastic.”

Haaland gave his side the lead in the 18th minute and Mateo Kovacic scored from outside the area in the 84th to give new Chelsea coach Enzo Maresca a rousing welcome in his first match.

Also on Sunday, Brentford took advantage of a controversial refereeing decision in the first half to beat Crystal Palace 2-1.

At Stamford Bridge, Haaland’s first goal came when he received the ball on the edge of the area and cut through Levi Colwill and Marc Cucurella to pass the ball to Robert Sánchez.

“I knew exactly what to do, I thought it was a really good goal,” Haaland said.

It was the kind of clinical centre-forward play that Chelsea missed last season and on Sunday too, despite spending heavily this summer.

Chelsea striker Nicholas Jackson had a goal cancelled out just before halftime for being needlessly offside and then he hit a close-range volley over City goalkeeper Ederson in the 61st minute after which 18-year-old debutant Marc Guieu was sent off.

“The performance was good but we didn’t take our chances,” Maresca said. “Probably the big difference was inside the box.”

Still, there were signs of encouragement for Maresca, a former Man City assistant under Pep Guardiola. While none of Chelsea’s nine summer signings started the game, Romeo Lavia made his first league start after missing most of last season through injuries and impressed in a midfield partnership with Moises Caicedo.

Winger Pedro Neto came off the bench in the 59th minute to make his debut after a big-money move from Wolves and he almost scored as he was inches away from meeting Enzo Fernandes’ low cross towards the far post.

But Kovacic, playing in place of the injured Rodri, doubled the lead against his former club when he intercepted a ball high up the pitch and surged ahead with a shot that went wide of the post.

Brentford didn’t need Ivan Toney to start the season with a win, and they may have to do without the England striker in the future too.

Toney was left out of the squad due to what Brentford manager Thomas Frank described as “transfer interest” in the forward, but Bryan Mbeumo and Yoan Wissa scored for the hosts.

“I think Wisa has performed well whenever Ivan hasn’t played and I think he did that again today,” Frank said. “Brian had a great start to last season and he’s back in form now.”

Wissa scored the winning goal in the 76th minute when Palace goalkeeper Dean Henderson got his hands on Nathan Collins’ shot but it landed at the Brentford forward’s feet.

Mbeumo scored first in the 29th minute, before Palace equalised through an own goal by Ethan Pinnock.

However, Palace were disappointed that Mbeumo’s goal came just minutes after the visitors had a goal disallowed at the other end.

Eberechi Eze caught Brentford goalkeeper Mark Flecken out with a long-range free kick from the right, then shot straight into the net via the near post when Brentford were expecting a delivery into the box. However, referee Sam Barrot whistled for a foul on Palace midfielder Will Hughes as he struggled to make his way through a swarm of players on the edge of the area. Although the decision infuriated Palace manager Oliver Glasner, VAR could not review it because Barrot’s whistle came before the ball went into the net.

“I was told he blew the whistle too early and made a mistake,” Glasner said. “I think everyone was surprised that the referee blew the whistle so early. We thought it was a goal, but the rule is that when the referee blows the whistle the goal doesn’t count. That’s the way it is.”