Manchester City won 4-1 at Selhurst Park and Crystal Palace did not beat their goalkeeper. Palace's goal on 56 minutes was an own goal by Gianluigi Donnarumma. Their nine shots produced one on target all evening.
Cherki decided it in five minutes
Haaland headed City in front on 17 from Antoine Semenyo's cross, wearing a black armband for the late King Harald V of Norway. The game was still 1-0 an hour in.
Then Rayan Cherki scored twice in five minutes: a left footed finish from the middle of the box on 54 after Phil Foden found him, and on 59, right footed from outside the area, the weaker foot and the harder shot. It is the first brace of his career. Haaland's second on 84, from Foden again, was the fourth.
Maresca's verdict was measured. "He's helping us. He's going to help us in the future. We know he is a quality player. Rayan was very, very good off the ball." Cherki on his own performance: "My performance is so-so."
The gap in the numbers
City had 72.2 percent of the ball, 721 completed passes to 234, eighteen shots to nine and nine on target to one. Palace made 32 tackles to City's fifteen and 21 clearances to eleven, which is what a night of chasing looks like in a stat line.
Foden finished with two assists, Cherki with three shots and three on target, Haaland with five and three.
Guéhi came home
Marc Guéhi captained Palace for four seasons and returned in a City back four alongside Gvardiol, Dias and Khusanov. He had 120 touches, more than anyone on the pitch, and 28 passes that broke a line of pressure. The reception was warm and the afternoon was not.
Palace are still on zero
Pierre Sage has taken charge of two league matches and lost both. "We were able to play 60, 65 minutes staying in the game but when I made the substitutions, the energy of the team went down and I'm a little bit angry with that." The substitutions came on 63 and 68. The third and fourth goals came on 59 and 84.
Zavier Gozo, the United States forward, came off the bench for his Premier League debut.
City are two from two
Enzo Maresca has won both, this one far more convincingly than the Bournemouth opener. He has done it having sold Rodri to Barcelona and Reijnders to Al Qadsiah, with Ayyoub Bouaddi, the €95 million signing from Lille, coming on for the last eight minutes, and with a bid for Enzo Fernández still expected before the window shuts on Tuesday.
On this evidence the midfield he is trying to rebuild is not the part that is stopping him.
