Manchester City starts its journey by winning the summit match against Chelsea

Manchester City, seeking to win their fifth consecutive Premier League title, started their campaign in the best possible way with a valuable away win over Chelsea 2-0 on Sunday in the first round.

Norwegian Erling Haaland (18) and Croatian Mateo Kovacic (84) scored the two goals.

City set the record for the most consecutive titles last season, winning it for the fourth time in a row.

City entered the match buoyed by their Community Shield win over neighbours Manchester United on penalties last week.

Manchester City played the match in the absence of its influential Spanish midfielder Rodri, who won the last European Cup with his country, after Spanish coach Pep Guardiola gave him an extended leave after the continental tournament, noting that he participated in his team's training a few days ago.

In the absence of injured winger Jack Grealish, Brazilian Savinho, the new arrival to the English champions, played his first official match with his team.

On the other hand, the surprise in Chelsea's ranks was the complete absence of its winger, Raheem Sterling, from the squad.

Chelsea played their first official match under the supervision of their new coach, the Italian Enzo Maresca, who previously worked as an assistant to Guardiola at Manchester City, before supervising Leicester City and promoting it to the Premier League clubs this season.

Maresca took over the task as a successor to Argentine Mauricio Pochettino, who left the team at the end of last season.

The match started with a pulse test between the two teams without any dangerous chances on either goal, until City managed to open the scoring from the first real chance in the match through its giant scorer Haaland when the ball reached him between two defenders and he slipped between them before brilliantly slotting it into the net (18).

Haaland thus celebrated his 100th match in various competitions with City, during which he scored 91 goals and succeeded in making 15 assists since his move 3 seasons ago from Borussia Dortmund, Germany.

Kovacic, the former Chelsea player, finally decided the result in favor of his team when he carried the ball several meters before shooting it powerfully from outside the area into the net (84).
(AFP)