August 29 2026

Cherki slots it past Henderson for his first of the night

Crystal Palace suffered a second successive Premier League defeat as Manchester City ran out 4-1 winners at Selhurst Park.

Erling Haaland and Rayan Cherki both scored twice as the visitors proved too strong, despite the Eagles briefly threatening a comeback early in the second half.

Palace started brightly and almost took the lead inside five minutes when Adam Wharton picked out Eddie Nketiah, but Gianluigi Donnarumma produced an excellent save to deny the striker.

City gradually took control and broke the deadlock after 17 minutes when Antoine Semenyo's cross found Haaland, who guided a header beyond Dean Henderson. Phil Foden then missed a glorious opportunity to double the lead before Tyrick Mitchell headed wide from a dangerous Wharton delivery at the other end.

Cherki doubled City's advantage nine minutes after the restart with a fine solo effort, weaving through the Palace defence before finishing confidently.

The Eagles responded almost immediately when Yeremy Pino's free-kick crashed against the crossbar, struck Donnarumma and bounced into the net to reduce the deficit.

Any hopes of a comeback were short-lived. Just three minutes later, Cherki's strike took a heavy deflection off Chris Richards to wrong-foot Henderson and restore City's two-goal cushion. Haaland then completed the scoring, finishing calmly after excellent work from Foden.

Palace again showed encouraging moments going forward but were punished by City's clinical finishing and remain without a point after their opening two league matches.

Pierre Sage handed a debut to new signing Axel Disasi from the bench, while the absence of the injured Jean-Philippe Mateta was keenly felt. With both Mateta and Ismaila Sarr continuing to be linked with moves away before the transfer deadline, the coming days could prove pivotal to Palace's season.

Palace: Henderson, Tomiyasu (Disasi, 74), Richards, Canvot, Mitchell, Kamada, Wharton, Khalaili (Óscar Mingueza, 75), Nketiah (McNeil, 68), Yéremy Pino (Gozo, 68), Strand Larsen (Guessand, 63)

Man City: Donnarumma, Gvardiol (Kova?i?, 75), Guéhi, Rúben Dias, Khusanov (Vitor Reis, 89), Anderson (Bouaddi, 82), O'Reilly (Braithwaite, 89), Semenyo, Cherki (McAidoo, 82), Foden, Haaland