Manchester City began their 2024-25 Premier League season with a 2-0 win against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Sunday. Erling Haaland opened the scoring after collecting the ball in the Chelsea box. He dribbled forward before placing the ball past Robert Sanchez .
Chelsea then kept the visitors, bidding to win a fifth Premier League title in a row, at bay for the rest of the first half and the majority of the second. However, Chelsea old boy Mateo Kovacic settled the game on 84 minutes when he collected the ball and drove towards goal before firing a long-range strike into the net, with Sanchez failing to keep it out despite getting a hand to it. Here, The Athletic ’s club correspondents Liam Twomey and Sam Lee analyse the key talking points from the game.
How did the wingers picked ahead of Sterling look? The startling pre-match statement from Raheem Sterling ’s camp reacting to his exclusion from new head coach Enzo Maresca’s 20-man matchday squad ensured that the wingers who did play for Chelsea on Sunday were going to be a compelling prism through which to view this match, regardless of the final score. Advertisement Maresca started what he could reasonably argue are the club’s three best attacking players in Cole Palmer , Nicolas Jackson and Christopher Nkunku — a luxury that the latter’s injuries in his 2023-24 debut season deprived his predecessor Mauricio Pochettino of enjoying. Yet it is also reasonable to wonder if any of the three are maximised when deployed as wingers.
Nkunku made some dangerous runs down the left but could not consistently get the better of Rico Lewis , while Palmer was at his most dangerous when drifting more central to receive the ball and then release Malo Gusto on the overlap. It was little surprise when Nkunku was withdrawn just before the hour mark and it was Pedro Neto , one of this summer’s new signings, who was chosen to come on rather than holdovers Noni Madueke and Mykhailo Mudryk . Neto’s influence on his debut was relatively peripheral on the left.
Chelsea looked to build most of their attacks through Palmer and Gusto over on the right, though he did beat Bernardo Silva with one deft drop of the shoulder and also narrowly failed to connect with a low cross at the back post. Whether this is an early indication of the wing hierarchy under Maresca or a reaction to the specific challenges posed by City will be an interesting theme of the Italian’s early tenure at Stamford Bridge. Liam Twomey How well did Kovacic play in Rodri ’s absence? “It will not be a perfect game against Chelsea, we are not in our top level,” City manager Pep Guardiola said on Friday, not being defeatist about the situation — he also insisted they have to be ready — but spelling out the reality, given their European Championship finalists of last month were only on the bench and Rodri — their most important player — was not in the squad at all.
And Chelsea caused City plenty of problems last season when Rodri did play (and didn’t do particularly well). The Londoners have lots of big and strong players and City do not, so if they had some issues on Sunday, there were plenty of reasons beyond the absence of their influential Spaniard from midfield. Advertisement But the man they used in his role settled the game in the end, striding forward through midfield like he has done very well in the past couple of weeks in the warm-up friendlies, and firing in the second goal from outside the box.
Kovacic was City’s deepest midfielder, with Bernardo and Kevin De Bruyne taking it in turns to drop in and help (De Bruyne as something of a deep-lying conductor was an interesting sight) and there were plenty of times when the Croatian was back there alone, not needing the extra help. Although his goal will obviously and deservedly get the headlines, there were a few occasions when Kovacic was caught out looking a little lightweight, leading directly to good Chelsea opportunities to equalise. That said, overall he was much better than a year ago, when asked to deputise for Rodri against Arsenal and Wolves , and really struggled.
Until his goal, this game was very open, which is not a characteristic you associate with City, but again there were various reasons for that. The whole issue of how City play without Rodri is something to keep an eye on throughout the season, though, because they do not seem prepared to make a statement signing in what’s left of the summer window — in the mould of Newcastle United ’s Bruno Guimaraes , for example — to add serious strength to that area of the pitch. If they do bring in a reinforcement before the August 30 deadline, it is likely to be a relatively cheap option who will not have huge expectations regarding playing time — the same criteria as they have for any new striker following the departure of Julian Alvarez to Atletico Madrid.
Sam Lee How did Romeo Lavia play? It is a well-worn football cliche to describe the return of a player from long-term injury as being “just like a new signing”, but in the case of Lavia at Chelsea, it applies truly and quite literally. Last summer’s £53million ($68.6m at the current exchange rate) midfield signing from Southampton was one of the few bright spots of an underwhelming pre-season tour in the United States this summer, having been limited to just 32 minutes of first-team action in a single appearance in 2023-24 — meaning this was the first real chance for Chelsea fans to get a look at him in a competitive setting.
Advertisement Lavia’s early returns on Sunday were mostly positive, eliminating many of the sloppy passes that had marred his game in pre-season and using the ball simply and sensibly at the base of midfield. There was also the occasional glimpse of his dribbling skill, such as one pass received on the turn deep in his own half which completely fooled De Bruyne. He also worked tenaciously with Moises Caicedo to screen Chelsea’s back four and force City into turnovers that pinned them into their defensive third.
Maresca will need that defensive impact to continue to ensure Chelsea’s midfield does not miss Conor Gallagher ( assuming he leaves ) as keenly as it did during his rare absences last season. Liam Twomey How did Ederson do after a summer of Saudi interest? It is no exaggeration to say that Ederson is arguably the most important player of this entire Guardiola era. Many players could make that case for themselves, including the aforementioned Rodri, but if Ederson is not exactly the proverbial safe pair of hands, he is the safest pair of feet in world football.
Without their Brazilian goalkeeper, it would have been much harder for City to establish their style of play and, from there, win all of their trophies. So it is of course a huge boost for them that Ederson will be staying this season, despite his interest in a move to Saudi Arabia. One thing to note, though, is that his head has not seemed completely in the game for a few weeks now, and he let in some poor goals during pre-season.
There were even some wayward kicks last weekend in the Community Shield, an aspect of his play that make a huge difference to City’s game — for seven years now they have, basically, reached the target every time, and that was the case at Stamford Bridge as well. More worrying were a couple of spills that almost gifted Chelsea an equaliser. It is great news for City that he is staying, but he will need to get his regular levels back soon.
Sam Lee Will Lewis earn more appearances on the back of this performance? This was a big chance to impress while Kyle Walker was left out after his Euros participation and Lewis had a fine game, arguably City’s most consistent performer. It is not easy for a young and pretty diminutive player to play right-back in this league, especially against such a physical and fast team like Chelsea, but he stuck to his defensive task well. Advertisement He also made a big contribution in attack, especially when popping up in an inside channel to give his team a route out and move up the pitch quickly.
Walker will play plenty of games this season but the 19-year-old should get enough chances to show his quality too. Sam Lee What did Enzo Maresca say? We will bring you this after he has spoken at the post-match press conference. What did Pep Guardiola say? We will bring you this after he has spoken at the post-match press conference.
What next for Chelsea? Thursday, August 22: Servette (H), Conference League qualifying play-off first leg, 8pm BST, 3pm ET What next for City? Saturday, August 24: Ipswich Town (H), Premier League , 3pm BST, 10am ET Recommended reading (Top photo: Adrian Dennis/AFP via Getty Images).
