Manchester City swept Crystal Palace aside 4-1 at Selhurst Park, with Erling Haaland and Rayan Cherki each scoring twice in an emphatic second-half finish.
Haaland opened the scoring in the first half, Cherki struck either side of Palace briefly reducing the deficit, and Haaland completed the result five minutes from time. City’s margin of victory was deserved, although Palace did have a short spell after the interval in which the match looked capable of changing direction.
Cherki supplied the decisive acceleration
The score was still only 1-0 at the break, leaving Palace with a route back into the contest. The reports agree that City had created opportunities before half-time, while Phil Foden also passed up a significant chance, but the home side had not been detached from the game.
Cherki changed that balance. His first goal came after Palace surrendered possession in midfield, with the French forward navigating a crowded penalty area before finding the net. It was a goal based on close control as much as power, and it exposed an issue that persisted for Palace: City were able to receive between the home midfield and defence too easily.
Palace’s response arrived quickly. Yeremy Pino won and took a long-range free-kick which hit the crossbar before rebounding into the goal via Gianluigi Donnarumma. There is a difference in the accounts over the scorer: some coverage treats it as Pino’s goal, while another records it as a Donnarumma own goal. The essential point is that the goalkeeper’s touch turned a spectacular set-piece effort into Palace’s first league goal of the season.
That moment should have offered Palace momentum. Instead, it lasted barely two minutes. Cherki restored the two-goal lead with a shot from outside the box which took a slight touch on its way past Dean Henderson. The rapid exchange mattered more than the final 4-1 scoreline alone suggests. Palace had finally produced a moment of belief; City answered before their opponents could alter the game’s emotional or tactical pattern.
Haaland made limited involvement count
Haaland’s display was a familiar illustration of why judging him solely by touches can be misleading. Multiple reports noted that he was not constantly involved in City’s passing game, yet he was decisive at both ends of the scoring sequence.
His opener, reported at either the 16th or 17th minute, was a looping header beyond Henderson. For the fourth, Foden carried the ball into the box and supplied the pass for Haaland to finish sharply from a tight angle. The two goals were different in construction but alike in outcome: when City found the right delivery, Palace could not prevent their centre-forward from converting.
Cherki was the evening’s most inventive player, but Haaland’s brace gave City’s attacking display a broader significance. The visitors did not need one player to dominate every phase. Cherki could drift into pockets and create disorder, while Haaland remained a permanent penalty-box threat. That combination made it difficult for Palace to commit numbers forward after their own goal, because every turnover carried danger.
Palace’s brief threat never became pressure
Palace did create openings that could have made City uncomfortable. Eddie Nketiah failed to turn in a low ball early in the second half, and Pino later overhit a cross when teammates were available. Those moments underline that the hosts were not entirely passive.
But they were isolated incidents rather than sustained pressure. City controlled 78% of possession in the second half, according to the live coverage, and after Cherki’s second goal Palace were unable to establish a spell of attacks. That is the more concerning part for Pierre Sage: not simply conceding four to a side with City’s attacking talent, but losing the ability to influence territory once the game turned.
The hosts’ substitutions also produced an unusual disruption. Anan Khalaili’s delayed departure meant Oscar Mingueza had to wait before entering under the competition’s revised substitution procedures, leaving Palace temporarily a man short. It was not the reason for the defeat, which had already taken a clear course, but it contributed to an increasingly disjointed final quarter.
City’s performance answers some questions, not all
The result will strengthen the impression that Enzo Maresca’s City are quickly finding attacking fluency. Their use of the ball after going 3-1 ahead was especially telling: Palace chased, City retained possession, and the match became increasingly one-sided. Late appearances for Ayyoub Bouaddi, Ryan McAidoo, Vitor Reis and Kaden Braithwaite reflected the visitors’ control, with Bouaddi and McAidoo making Premier League debuts.
Still, this was one dominant away performance rather than conclusive proof of a finished transformation. City had a shaky first-half period and Palace’s free-kick demonstrated that their defence and goalkeeper can be tested. The more immediate conclusion is narrower and more robust: when City’s forwards receive space around the penalty area, they now have several players capable of deciding a match.
For Palace, the unanswered question is how to turn occasional promising passages into sustained threat. Their free-kick gave Selhurst Park a reason to believe, but Cherki removed it almost immediately. Against a team that controlled the second half so completely, Palace needed more than one flash of quality.