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Manchester City got their Premier League title defence off to a winning start as goals from Erling Haaland and Mateo Kovacic inflicted a 2-0 defeat on Enzo Maresca in his first match in charge of Chelsea yesterday.
Haaland marked his 100th appearance for the club with his 91st goal before Kovacic struck on his return to Stamford Bridge to give Pep Guardiola’s men the perfect start to their attempt to win a record fifth consecutive English top-flight title.
City were shorn of all four of their Euro 2024 finalists – Rodri, Kyle Waker, John Stones and Phil Foden – from the start as Guardiola opted to give them extra time off to recover from their summer exertions.
Yet, the champions were still able to lay down a marker against one of the few sides they failed to beat in the league last season.
Maresca has the tough task of moulding a functioning team unit from a bloated Chelsea squad that has 43 players and over 50 on the books including those on loan.
The consequences of those difficult decisions played out even before kick-off as Raheem Sterling’s camp released a statement expressing his dismay at being left out of the matchday squad.
Ben Chilwell was another to face the cull, while Conor Gallagher and Romelu Lukaku are among those not to have been handed squad numbers.
None of Chelsea’s nine summer signings to date were included in Maresca’s starting line-up.
Even more surprisingly, Enzo Fernandez was named captain despite being embroiled in a race row for a post on social media after Argentina’s Copa America victory last month. — Supersport.
Bongani Ndlovu
Online Reporter