Erling Haaland and Rayan Cherki both scored twice as Manchester City made it two Premier League wins out of two under Enzo Maresca – and left Crystal Palace without a point after back-to-back defeats according to BBC Sport.
Haaland, last season’s leading scorer with 27 league goals, opened his account for the season to set City on their way with a guided header after being picked out by Antoine Semenyo in the 17th minute.
In an entertaining game, Cherki doubled the lead with a lovely 54th-minute finish after dancing past a couple of challenges, before Palace pulled one back two minutes later when Gianluigi Donnarumma became the first City keeper to score a Premier League own goal since Costel Pantilimon in December 2013.
Yeremy Pino’s free-kick over the City wall struck the bar before hitting the back of Donnarumma and then going in off the post.
However, Cherki’s deflected 59th-minute finish off Chris Richards made it 3-1, before Haaland rounded off a fine performance with City’s fourth following good work by Phil Foden.
Palace had started on the front foot with three attempts in the opening five minutes, the best of which saw Italy stopper Donnarumma keep out Eddie Nketiah’s shot following a razor-sharp pass by Adam Wharton.
But City quickly took control and after Elliot Anderson had been denied by Dean Henderson, Haaland pounced before Foden missed a golden chance to double the lead when he fired over from 10 yards.
In a free-flowing game watched by England manager Thomas Tuchel, Tyrick Mitchell should have equalised in the 34th minute but put his header wide after a cross from the impressive Wharton, while Nketiah wasted another chance after half-time before Cherki made it 2-0.
Palace were without their star striker Jean-Philippe Mateta, whose future remains uncertain amid interest from other clubs before next Tuesday’s transfer deadline.
According to reports, however, the scorer of 50 goals in 163 appearances for the Eagles suffered a hamstring injury in training and is expected to be out for about four weeks, throwing into doubt a move away from Palace this summer.
His place was taken by Jorgen Strand Larsen, yet it was his Norway team-mate who helped decide the game – with Haaland having now scored an astonishing 10 goals in six Premier League games against Palace.