Manchester City got their league campaign off to an impressive start with a 2-0 win over West Ham United at the London Stadium on Sunday night.
New City signing Erling Haaland, making his first appearance for the reigning champions, scored two goals on his debut, while Ilkay Gundogan and Phil Foden were recalled in place of Bernard Silva and Riyad Mahrez.
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Ham looked calm and took control in the early stages of the game as Jarrod Bowen and Kurt Zouma tried to seal the game in the opening 10 minutes, but Haaland pulled the plug for the Citizens after 36 minutes of play.
The 22-year-old forward scored twice. He converted a penalty beautifully in the first half to score the points before rallying in the second period to cap off an impressive display.
Just before the 30th minute, Pep Guardiola’s men showed they were serious when Kevin de Bruyne finished off a neat move, but the goal was later disallowed after Ilkay Gundogan was caught offside in the build-up.
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Haaland was more involved after the break, linking up even further, although he only needed one touch when Kevin de Bruyne sent him free to score his second after some pressure from West Ham to kill the game off.
The Hammers struggled to break free and find the back of the net with every opportunity at their disposal, it was City who doubled their lead in the 65th minute.
The Norwegian striker, who played most of the game, was denied the chance to complete his hat-trick when Pep Guardiola opted to replace him with Julián Alvarez in the final minutes of the game.
City have a home game against Bournemouth next Saturday.
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