A good performance by Chelsea was not enough to get the points. The Citizens came back to win with Haaland and Kovacic scoring

Manchester City won the first round of the Premier League with a 2-0 victory over Chelsea. The team from Stamford Bridge had several promising chances, but paid for the productivity of Erling Haaland and a beautiful shot by Mateo Kovacic.

The Blues defence had the first job in the eighth minute when they managed to block a shot by Bernardo Silva. But otherwise the game was evenly matched, Chelsea had some interesting chances but didn’t take advantage of them. And in the 19th minute, she was unfortunate.

Because the ball bounced unluckily in the whitewash to Erling Haaland, who is unguarded in these spaces and made a good tackle. The Citizens’ good passage of play continued with Kevin de Bruyne’s finish from distance that went just wide.

But after that, the home side got busy and showed some offensive actions. But most of them ended up on the edge of the box, and when Nicolas Jackson already struck after an error by Ederson, his shot could not stand due to offside.

So it was a close game, with the paper favourites leading 1: 0. After the change of sides, the Blues had a good start, but the final phase was still creaking. Haaland could have made the difference on the other end, but he couldn’t find the goalkeeper.

In the 61st minute, Jackson threw away a scoring chance when he was saved by the otherwise unsure Ederson. Five minutes later, Rico Lewis scored an irregular goal on the other side after a foul by one of his teammates.

The Blues didn’t create any more chances in the next good ten minutes, which came in the 84th minute. Former Chelsea player Mateo Kovacic got a hand to the ball a few yards outside the box and his shot against the left post gave Sanchez no chance.

After that, the game was all over and the Citizens came away with a clean sheet to open the season. Chelsea, on the other hand, have an unpleasant week ahead, first the Conference play-offs and then an away game in the league.

Source: Canal+ Sport, Premier League