Manchester City claimed a dominant 4-1 victory against Crystal Palace on Friday, August 28, 2026, at Selhurst Park, powered by two goals each from Erling Haaland and Rayan Cherki. The win secures back-to-back victories for new manager Enzo Maresca to start the Premier League campaign.
When Manchester City traveled to Selhurst Park for their second outing of the 2026-27 Premier League campaign, the early days of life after Pep Guardiola carried a lingering sense of unpredictability. Yet any pre-match jitters quickly dissolved into a commanding exhibition of attacking firepower, as the visitors swept aside their hosts in a resounding 4-1 victory against Palace.
Rayan Cherki Inspires Selhurst Park Masterclass
French playmaker Rayan Cherki anchored the decisive moments of the match. After a quiet opening 45 minutes that drew an unusually blunt self-critique from the midfielder live on television, Cherki unveiled a Selhurst Park masterclass with two brilliant second-half goals.
Rayan Cherki refuses to hide his emotions, an open book for all to see and hear in times of joy and disappointment. Moments after Manchester City had put down their first heavyweight marker of the post-Pep Guardiola era by brushing aside Crystal Palace, he was asked live on TV how much he enjoyed the game. Rather than providing the usual textbook answer, he instead gave a colourfully uncomplimentary – and unprintable – description of his own first-half performance.
Erling Haaland, standing alongside Cherki as he waited to hand over the player-of-the-match award, could only laugh at the France attacker’s sweary honesty. Indeed, the 23-year-old also refuses to hide his talent, making a nonsense of his self-criticism by unveiling a Selhurst Park masterclass with two brilliant second-half goals.
The former Lyon playmaker was quick to criticise his early performance despite emerging as the match-winner for the Citizens. Speaking to Sky Sports after the match, Cherki explained: "My performance was so-so. In the first half, we didn’t find the space, I played so s***. I need to show them I want to play."
He broke the game open in the 54th minute, scoring a brilliant solo goal before adding a long-range strike just five minutes later. Collecting Phil Foden’s pass, he jinked his way through a tight crowd of Palace defenders to poke the ball beyond Dean Henderson. Just after a Gianluigi Donnarumma own goal had made life nervy again, he blasted a second past him from the edge of the box with a deflected effort.
That multi-goal performance, paired with his two assists during the opening weekend against Bournemouth, placed the Frenchman in elite historical company. Rayan Cherki became the third player to have a game with multiple goals and another with multiple assists across a team’s first two matches of a Premier League campaign. The Frenchman became just the third player after Thierry Henry and Didier Drogba.
“For sure he’s happy his performance was very good, not because of the two goals but how he worked off the ball.”
Enzo Maresca
Erling Haaland Keeps Up Goalscoring Pace
While Cherki orchestrated the midfield creativity, Erling Haaland provided the ruthless finishing. The Norwegian striker opened the scoring in the 17th minute by connecting with a cross to send a header looping over Dean Henderson and into the net.
Palace briefly threatened when Pierre Sage’s side looked for a comeback from 2-0 down, as Yeremy Pino fired a free kick into the crossbar that came back off the woodwork and rebounded in off Gianluigi Donnarumma in City’s goal – an unfair own goal awarded against the keeper to make it 2-1. But Cherki ended that hope, and Enzo Maresca’s side made it two wins from two to start their 2026-27 Premier League campaign alongside a pair of assists from Phil Foden, maintaining a perfect start to the new Premier League campaign.
Tactical Adjustments and Lineups Under Maresca
Enzo Maresca used the fixture to fine-tune his lineup following an opening weekend that required a late comeback at Bournemouth. The line-up revelation at Selhurst Park was Maresca slotting Marc Guehi back into central defence, with Josko Gvardiol at left-back and Nico O’Reilly stationed in midfield alongside Elliot Anderson.
Even so, Palace started better than City, fashioning three shots in the first five minutes. It was one of six shots on target for City in the opening 45 minutes — the last time they managed more in the first half of a Premier League game was in May 2024.
The emphatic win means Maresca has recorded consecutive victories to kick off his managerial tenure, following last weekend’s hard-fought 2-1 triumph over Bournemouth.
