Cherki Ends Crystal Palace Revival as Haaland Brace Sends Manchester City Top

Manchester City needed a rescue act to win their Premier League opener five days ago. At Selhurst Park, they looked much closer to the team Enzo Maresca wants them to become.

Erling Haaland scored twice and Rayan Cherki produced a superb second-half brace as City beat Crystal Palace 4-1 on Friday night, collecting six points from their opening two matches and moving provisionally to the top of the Premier League.

The final score suggests a comfortable evening. There was, however, one brief moment when Selhurst Park threatened to drag City into trouble.

Cherki had doubled the visitors’ lead early in the second half before a Yéremy Pino free kick struck the crossbar and rebounded into the net off Gianluigi Donnarumma, cutting the deficit to 2-1. Palace suddenly had a crowd, a goal and a little momentum behind them.

It lasted only a few minutes.

Cherki struck again in the 59th minute, restoring City’s two-goal advantage before Haaland completed the scoring late on. Palace’s attempt to turn the match had barely begun before City shut it down.

That response may matter more to Maresca than the margin itself. City had required two late goals to escape Bournemouth with a 2-1 opening-weekend victory. Their first away match offered a different kind of evidence.

This time, City found control before the crisis became one.

Crystal Palace vs Manchester City: Final Score and Goals

Event	Minute	Score
Erling Haaland, Manchester City	17′	Crystal Palace 0-1 Manchester City
Rayan Cherki, Manchester City	54′	Crystal Palace 0-2 Manchester City
Gianluigi Donnarumma own goal, Crystal Palace	56′	Crystal Palace 1-2 Manchester City
Rayan Cherki, Manchester City	59′	Crystal Palace 1-3 Manchester City
Erling Haaland, Manchester City	84′	Crystal Palace 1-4 Manchester City

The result gives Manchester City six points from two matches and places them provisionally first before the rest of Matchweek 2 is completed. Crystal Palace remain without a point after consecutive defeats. The latest positions can be followed through the official Premier League table.

Palace Start With Intent but City Survive the Early Noise

Crystal Palace did not begin like a team planning to sit inside its own penalty area and wait for damage.

Eddie Nketiah tested Donnarumma early, while Adam Wharton repeatedly looked for forward passes capable of breaking City’s structure. Selhurst Park responded to that aggression and City needed several minutes before they established any consistent attacking rhythm.

The visitors gradually found it.

Phil Foden had chances to make Palace pay, including a promising opening after Elliot Anderson found him inside the area, but his finishing initially let the hosts escape.

The breakthrough instead came through the player whose presence continues to change the geometry of almost every defense Manchester City face.

Erling Haaland Opens His Premier League Account

Haaland had failed to score in City’s opening victory against Bournemouth.

That drought lasted less than 20 minutes at Selhurst Park.

Antoine Semenyo delivered an inviting cross and Haaland rose above the Palace defense, directing his header beyond Dean Henderson to put City ahead.

It was a familiar type of Haaland goal because very little appeared complicated about it once the cross arrived. The difficulty lies in preventing him from reaching that position in the first place.

Palace could not.

The Norwegian entered the season as the clearest attacking reason Manchester City remain one of the leading title contenders, something The Sports Encounter highlighted when ranking the strongest contenders for the 2026/27 Premier League title.

His broader scoring record hardly needs introduction. Haaland also entered the club season after scoring seven times during Norway’s historic World Cup campaign, a run covered in our detailed guide to Haaland’s career, records and goalscoring rise.

At Palace, he gave City the lead. Cherki would eventually turn that advantage into control.

Rayan Cherki Changes the Match in Five Minutes

Cherki had already influenced City’s new season before making his first major scoring statement.

Against Bournemouth, he came from the bench and created the corner from which Marc Guéhi equalized before supplying the pass that led to Josko Gvardiol’s stoppage-time winner.

Maresca rewarded that impact by starting him at Selhurst Park.

The decision paid off emphatically.

In the 54th minute, Palace surrendered possession in midfield and City attacked immediately. Foden found Cherki, who kept the ball through traffic, moved between defenders and finished past Henderson to make it 2-0.

It was the kind of goal that explains why Cherki is so difficult to defend when he receives possession between midfield and the penalty area. He does not need an obvious passing lane or shooting angle. He can manufacture one.

Palace then received their biggest emotional lift of the evening.

Pino’s Free Kick Gives Palace Hope, but Only Briefly

Yéremy Pino won a free kick and took it himself from distance.

His effort struck the crossbar, rebounded against the diving Donnarumma and crossed the line. The goal was officially credited as an own goal by the Manchester City goalkeeper.

For Palace, it was their first Premier League goal of the season after losing 2-0 at Everton on opening weekend.

More importantly, the score was suddenly 2-1.

The crowd responded immediately. A match that appeared to be drifting away from Pierre Sage’s side had reopened.

Those are the moments that can reveal whether a team under a new manager is comfortable enough in its structure to respond without panic.

City’s answer arrived almost immediately.

Cherki’s Second Goal Removes the Air From Selhurst Park

Cherki found space near the edge of the penalty area and struck again in the 59th minute.

His effort took a slight deflection off Chris Richards before beating Henderson and finding the far corner.

The timing was devastating.

Palace had finally created a reason to believe. Instead of being allowed to build pressure around the City penalty area, they were back two goals behind almost immediately.

The sequence is the most revealing part of the match.

City’s first league game under Maresca had required an 84th-minute equalizer and a stoppage-time winner. At Selhurst Park, the first moment of genuine second-half adversity produced a much quicker solution.

Cherki supplied it.

His early-season form also follows significant individual recognition. He joined Haaland, Nico O’Reilly and Antoine Semenyo among City’s representatives in the PFA Premier League Team of the Year, a selection included in The Sports Encounter’s coverage of the 2026 PFA awards and Team of the Year.

Two matches into the new campaign, Cherki already looks less like an optional creative luxury and more like one of the players around whom Maresca can build City’s attack.

Haaland Finishes the Job

By the final stages, Palace were chasing a match City no longer needed to chase themselves.

That changed the spaces available.

Haaland added his second goal in the 84th minute to complete the 4-1 scoreline and ensure City’s first Premier League away trip under Maresca ended without late tension.

A brace also places him immediately back among the league’s early scoring leaders after drawing a blank against Bournemouth.

The important detail is that City did not require Haaland to carry the entire attacking burden.

Cherki scored twice. Semenyo created the opener. Foden remained involved around the decisive attacking sequences. The supporting cast repeatedly occupied defenders who would otherwise have been able to narrow their attention toward Haaland.

That attacking variety is one reason Haaland ranked among the standout performers in The Sports Encounter’s World Cup 2026 player rankings, despite Norway exiting before the semifinals. His goals become even harder to prevent when teammates create threats from multiple areas.

The Overlooked Detail: Maresca Is Building a Midfield Without Rodri

The four goals will naturally dominate the reaction, but City’s midfield remains one of the more interesting parts of Maresca’s early work.

Marc Guéhi again operated in a midfield role alongside Elliot Anderson, giving City additional defensive strength through the center while allowing more attacking freedom ahead of them.

It is an unusual solution, but the context matters.

City are adapting after Rodri ended his trophy-filled Manchester City career and joined Barcelona. Replacing a midfielder of that level cannot be reduced to finding another player with an identical profile.

Maresca appears willing to distribute those responsibilities differently.

Guéhi offers defensive awareness and physical security. Anderson offers progression, energy and ball-winning capacity. Ahead of them, Cherki provides imagination in areas where City need someone willing to attempt the unpredictable.

Anderson’s arrival was one of the defining transfers of another extraordinary English summer, placing him among the deals examined in our analysis of the Premier League’s record-breaking transfer market.

Two league games are nowhere near enough evidence to declare the midfield problem solved.

It is enough to see the outline of Maresca’s answer.

City’s First Two Wins Could Hardly Have Been More Different

Manchester City’s six points tell only part of the story.

Bournemouth made them suffer for the first 84 minutes at the Etihad. City looked uncomfortable, trailed for most of the afternoon and required their squad depth to rescue a result late.

Palace created early pressure and briefly reduced the deficit in the second half, but City responded before the contest could become chaotic.

That distinction matters.

The largest uncertainty surrounding City entering 2026/27 was never their talent level. The question was whether Maresca could inherit a squad shaped by Pep Guardiola while establishing his own authority, tactics and decision-making.

The Sports Encounter’s complete Premier League 2026/27 season preview identified that managerial transition as one of the campaign’s defining stories.

City remain early in that process.

Six points from six make the work easier.

Crystal Palace Already Face an Uncomfortable Table

Palace’s situation looks very different.

They lost 2-0 at Everton in Matchweek 1 and have now conceded four at home to City.

The league table after two Friday-night fixtures does not determine anything about survival, but zero points creates immediate pressure when a club is trying to establish itself under a new manager.

There were useful moments against City.

Wharton showed his passing quality. Palace attacked aggressively during the opening stages. Pino’s free kick created the goal that briefly brought Selhurst Park back into the game.

The difficulty was sustaining those moments.

Against elite opposition, Palace could not protect the periods when momentum shifted in their direction. Cherki’s second goal arrived before they had built another meaningful attack after scoring.

That is the part Sage will need to address.

Manchester City Move Provisionally Top

With two victories from two matches, Manchester City move provisionally to the top of the Premier League before Saturday, Sunday and Monday complete Matchweek 2.

No conclusion about the title race should be drawn from an August table.

What matters more is that City have collected maximum points while confronting two very different problems.

They survived a long, difficult opener against Bournemouth.

They then punished Palace once the second match opened up.

Arsenal remain the defending champions and begin this season with greater managerial continuity. Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea and others will have their own say in the race.

City’s early message is simply that the post-Guardiola transition has begun with results rather than excuses.

What Comes Next for Manchester City and Crystal Palace?

According to the official Premier League 2026/27 fixture list, both clubs return to league action on September 5.

Manchester City host newly promoted Coventry City at the Etihad Stadium, giving Maresca an opportunity to extend the perfect start before a much more demanding Manchester derby follows later in September.

Crystal Palace travel to Fulham.

For City, that next match is about maintaining momentum.

For Palace, it already feels more urgent. Three games without points would place an uncomfortable weight on September before the season has properly settled.

The Sports Encounter Verdict

The 4-1 scoreline belongs to Haaland and Cherki, but the most encouraging part for Manchester City came between Palace’s goal and Cherki’s second.

Selhurst Park had finally come alive. Palace had reduced the deficit. City were facing the kind of emotional swing that can turn an away fixture into a difficult final half-hour.

Cherki removed that possibility almost immediately.

Haaland later supplied the fourth, but the match had already been decided by City’s ability to respond before Palace could build belief.

Maresca has now won his first two Premier League matches in completely different ways.

That does not prove Manchester City are ready to reclaim the title.

It does suggest their new era may be settling faster than their rivals would have hoped.

Frequently Asked Questions

What was the final score between Crystal Palace and Manchester City?

Manchester City beat Crystal Palace 4-1 at Selhurst Park in their second Premier League match of the 2026/27 season.

Who scored for Manchester City against Crystal Palace?

Erling Haaland scored twice for Manchester City, while Rayan Cherki also scored two goals.

Who scored Crystal Palace’s goal against Manchester City?

Crystal Palace’s goal was officially recorded as a Gianluigi Donnarumma own goal after Yéremy Pino’s free kick struck the crossbar and rebounded into the net off the Manchester City goalkeeper.

How many goals did Erling Haaland score against Crystal Palace?

Haaland scored two goals, opening the scoring in the first half before adding Manchester City’s fourth late in the second half.

How many goals did Rayan Cherki score against Crystal Palace?

Cherki scored twice in the second half, including the goal that quickly restored City’s two-goal advantage after Palace had pulled one back.

Are Manchester City top of the Premier League?

Manchester City moved provisionally to the top of the Premier League with six points from their opening two matches. The rest of Matchweek 2 had not been completed when the Palace game finished.

How have Manchester City started the 2026/27 Premier League season?

City have won both of their opening matches. They beat Bournemouth 2-1 at the Etihad Stadium before winning 4-1 away at Crystal Palace.

Who do Manchester City play next?

Manchester City are scheduled to host Coventry City at the Etihad Stadium on September 5, 2026.