Erling Haaland struck twice as Manchester City survived a late scare to beat Ipswich Town 3-2 at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday, maintaining their perfect start to the Premier League season and moving six points clear of champions Arsenal at the top of the table. It was a seventh consecutive league victory for Enzo Maresca's side — a club record — and it came wrapped in the defiant carnival atmosphere that has defined City's season.
The Norwegian's double took his tally for the campaign to 12 goals in all competitions, and he was denied a hat-trick only by a VAR review. For long stretches it looked routine; by the end, after a 90th-minute Ipswich penalty and 12 minutes of added time, it was anything but. City held on, and the stands — awash with inflatable bananas — celebrated a win that edges the champions' successors ever closer to the summit's thin air.
Foden strikes, Ipswich hit back instantly
The evening began exactly as the home supporters had hoped. City captain Ruben Dias forced an early save from Ipswich goalkeeper Christian Walton, and the pressure told on 19 minutes. Jeremy Doku cut inside from the left, pulled the ball back to the edge of the six-yard box, and Phil Foden — making his first start since his red card at Old Trafford last month — turned it home from eight yards. It was the England midfielder's first league goal since December, and a reminder of what City had been missing.
Ipswich, promoted and widely written off before kick-off, refused to read the script. Within 155 seconds the game was level. Abdoul Ouattara released Daizen Maeda with a beautifully weighted ball down the right channel, and the Japanese forward beat Marc Guehi for pace before finishing calmly past the City goalkeeper. The Etihad fell silent, then found its voice again — nervous, now, rather than celebratory. The visitors had come to compete, and for the first time this season City's perfect record looked genuinely vulnerable.
Haaland takes charge
Great teams, though, have a way of summoning their great players at exactly the right moment. On 34 minutes, Mateo Kovacic slid a pass into the feet of Haaland inside the area, and the outcome was never in doubt. One touch to set himself, one strike to beat Walton, and City were 2-1 ahead at the break — the Norwegian's 11th goal of the season and another exhibit in his case for being the most ruthless finisher in world football.
After the interval Ipswich continued to scrap, refusing to let City settle into the controlled, suffocating rhythm that has characterised their football under Maresca. But the defining moment of the second half arrived on 69 minutes. Substitute Iliman Ndiaye threaded a pass through the Ipswich defence, Haaland latched on, and with the composure of a man finishing a training drill, he rolled the ball beyond Walton to make it 3-1. Two goals, two halves, and what appeared to be daylight between the sides.
The numbers around Haaland are becoming difficult to comprehend. His double brought up 100 non-penalty goals in the Premier League — the fastest any player has ever reached that mark — and four goals in a single week. Defenders know exactly what he will do and remain powerless to stop it.
A disallowed hat-trick and a nervy finale
Haaland thought he had completed a hat-trick with a spectacular late finish, only for the celebrations to be cut short by a VAR review that ruled the goal out for offside against Enzo Fernandez in the build-up. It was the correct call by the finest of margins, but it kept Ipswich's hopes flickering — and those hopes burst into flame in the 90th minute.
Guehi, who had endured a difficult evening against Maeda's pace, fouled Abdul Fatawu inside the penalty area, and Zian Flemming stepped up to convert the spot-kick. Suddenly it was 3-2, and with 12 minutes of added time announced, the Etihad was gripped by the kind of anxiety that has been entirely absent from City's serene march this season. Ipswich pushed for an equaliser that would have been one of the shocks of the season; City, for once, were hanging on rather than cruising. But hang on they did — defending the box, running down the clock, and seeing out a victory that felt far harder earned than the table will ever show.
Records tumble for Maresca and City
Beneath the drama, the record books were being rewritten. The win was City's seventh from seven league matches — a new club record for the best start to a league campaign, and the finest opening sequence in the club's 129-year history. They last won their first seven league games in the 1897-98 season, when they were playing in the second division.
City also became only the third team in Premier League history to win their opening seven fixtures, joining Chelsea's 2005-06 side and Liverpool's 2019-20 vintage — both of whom went on to lift the title. And Maresca himself made history: no manager has ever won his first seven Premier League games in charge of a new club. For a coach appointed in the summer amid scepticism, it is a startling statement of authority.
