Erling Haaland scored the decisive goal as Manchester City maintained their perfect start to the Premier League season with a narrow 1-0 victory over newly promoted Coventry City at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday.
The result moved City to the top of the Premier League table, although Enzo Maresca’s side were far from convincing and had to rely on late saves from Gianluigi Donnarumma to secure all three points.
The match also saw new signing Enzo Fernandez make his City debut from the start, despite initially being expected to begin on the bench following his £125 million move from Chelsea. An injury to Nico O’Reilly during the warm-up forced Maresca to bring the Argentine into the starting XI.
Iliman Ndiaye also made his first appearance for City, featuring alongside Haaland, Antoine Semenyo and Rayan Cherki in an attacking line-up that underlined the club’s huge summer spending.
City completed a record £460 million ($622 million) transfer-market outlay as Maresca began rebuilding the squad following Pep Guardiola’s decade-long tenure.
Despite entering the match without a goal in their first three games since returning to the Premier League, Coventry started brightly and nearly took advantage of an early error by Donnarumma.
The Italian goalkeeper mishandled a backpass but managed to recover in time to clear the ball just before it crossed the line.
Taiwo Awoniyi and Jack Rudoni then missed opportunities that could have given Coventry the lead before City gradually gained control.
Cherki struck the post before Fernandez played a key role in the opening goal. His pass released Semenyo down the right, and the winger delivered a perfectly weighted cross for Haaland to head home at the far post.
The goal was Haaland’s third in as many league matches this season.
Coventry goalkeeper Carl Rushworth prevented Haaland from adding another before the interval, while City struggled to create a second goal after the break.
Instead, the visitors grew increasingly dangerous and came close to earning a historic point.
Donnarumma was forced into two important late saves, denying Loum Tchaouna and Ellis Simms as Coventry pushed for an equaliser.
Although Coventry suffered another defeat, their performance offered encouragement that Lampard’s team can compete at Premier League level after returning to the top flight.
For Maresca, however, there will be plenty to improve before City’s next fixture against local rivals Manchester United.
Despite their unconvincing display, Manchester City remain perfect after three league games and currently sit at the top of the table ahead of champions Arsenal’s meeting with Chelsea on Sunday.
