London (GNP): Manchester City cruised to a 4-1 victory over Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park, with Rayan Cherki delivering a two-goal masterclass that took the game away from the hosts in the second half. City manager Enzo Maresca, known for demanding positional discipline from his players, gave Cherki the freedom to express himself, and the Frenchman repaid that trust with a display built on creativity and close control that left Palace with no answer.
The performance extended a strong start to Cherki’s second season in England, following an impressive substitute appearance against Bournemouth the previous week in which he provided two assists to spark a comeback from a goal down.
Against Palace, his first goal came from a mazy run finished with a delicate prod off the outside of his left foot, a moment that stood out even by his own inventive standards. Cherki was modest about his display afterward, dismissing his first-half performance as poor, though Maresca offered a more generous assessment, praising the way he worked without the ball and calling his overall game complete.
Cherki was not the only City player to catch the eye. Phil Foden put in an impressive shift, and Erling Haaland opened his season’s scoring account with a clinical double, a display strong enough to suggest City have moved past their earlier Community Shield setback under Maresca. The Italian manager acknowledged a shaky opening spell, saying City struggled in the first five to ten minutes due to pressing in the wrong areas before settling into control of the match.
City’s victory came despite an unsettled midfield following the departures of Rodri and Bernardo Silva. Ayyoub Bouaddi has joined from Lille for a reported 86 million pounds, a striking fee for an 18-year-old following his performances for Morocco at the World Cup, though City are still viewed as keen to add further depth, with Enzo Fernandez identified as a top target ahead of Tuesday’s transfer deadline.
Maresca continued to experiment with his setup against Palace, discontinuing a midfield role for Marc Guehi in favour of shifting him back into central defence against his former club, while deploying Elliot Anderson as a lone pivot, pushing Nico O’Reilly higher in a 4-1-4-1 shape and inverting Josko Gvardiol from left-back.
City took the lead in the 17th minute through a familiar pattern of play, with Antoine Semenyo crossing from the left for Haaland to loop a header over goalkeeper Dean Henderson. Palace, managed by Pierre Sage and still searching for their first points of the season, set up in Oliver Glasner’s previous 3-4-2-1 system but were missing several key players, including the unsettled Jean-Philippe Mateta, who could be out for around four weeks, along with Ismaila Sarr and Daniel Munoz, both linked with moves away from the club.
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The defence had also lost Maxence Lacroix following his sale to Chelsea, contributing to defensive lapses that City exploited before half-time through chances for Anderson, Semenyo and Foden.
Palace showed early promise despite the pressure, testing goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma inside the opening two minutes through Eddie Nketiah, with further half-chances for Daichi Kamada and Tyrick Mitchell. But City’s control grew after the break, with Foden and O’Reilly combining to press Palace out of possession before Cherki took over, drifting in from the left and unbalancing a string of defenders before poking home his opening goal past a rooted Henderson.
Palace briefly responded when Yeremy Pino’s free-kick struck the woodwork and deflected in off Donnarumma for an own goal, but Cherki restored City’s cushion in the 59th minute with a fierce strike from 20 yards that took a deflection past Henderson. City closed out the win as substitute Bouaddi made his debut in place of Anderson, before Foden set up Haaland to complete his double and seal the scoring.
