Erling Haaland scored twice, and Phil Foden made an impressive return to the starting XI as Man City beat Ipswich Town 3-2 to maintain their perfect Premier League start.
Enzo Maresca’s side made it seven wins from seven, although Zian Flemming’s late penalty ensured an uncomfortable finish at the Etihad Stadium.
Here are our City player ratings.
Man City player ratings v Ipswich
Gianluigi Donnarumma – 6
Little chance with either goal and otherwise had relatively little to do.
Matheus Nunes – 6
Saw plenty of possession without making a telling contribution down the right. Replaced after 76 minutes.
Ruben Dias – 7
Forced Christian Walton into an early save with a powerful effort and was the more assured of City’s centre-backs.
Marc Guehi – 5
A difficult afternoon. Maeda shrugged him off too easily for the equaliser before Guehi conceded the late penalty for catching Abdul Fatawu.
Nico O’Reilly – 6
Got forward regularly but should have done better with a good headed opportunity after the break.
Ayyoub Bouaddi – 7
Another composed display in possession. Kept City moving and rarely looked flustered.
Mateo Kovacic – 8
Excellent before injury forced him off early in the second half. His clever work and delivery created Haaland’s first goal.
Iliman Ndiaye – 8
Slid Haaland through for his second and later struck the crossbar. A constant threat when City moved forward.
Phil Foden – 9
An excellent return to the starting XI. Ghosted into the area to finish Doku’s cut-back and looked sharp and inventive throughout.
Jeremy Doku – 8
Created the opener and repeatedly troubled Ipswich with his direct running.
Erling Haaland – 9
Decisive again. Headed City back in front before using his strength and composure to score the third. Denied a hat-trick by VAR.
Substitutes
Enzo Fernandez – 6
Replaced Kovacic and was denied one-on-one by Walton.
Josko Gvardiol – 6
Solid after replacing O’Reilly.
Abdukodir Khusanov – 6
Introduced for Nunes and helped City negotiate the closing stages.
Elliot Anderson – 6
Added fresh legs as City looked to see out the victory.
Antoine Semenyo – 6
Little time to make a significant impression.
City created enough to have won more comfortably, registering 19 attempts and an expected-goals figure of 3.53, but Ipswich remained in the contest until the end.
Haaland supplied the decisive goals, while Foden’s performance on his return was perhaps the most encouraging individual development of the afternoon.
For all the latest Man City news, analysis and updates, visit our Man City news page.
Comments.
Loading comments…