Erling Haaland scored his 91st goal in his 100th appearance for Manchester City on Sunday as the champions kicked off their Premier League title defence with a lively 2-0 away win over Chelsea.

The Norway international, fed by Bernardo Silva, forced his way between Marc Cucurella and Wesley Fofana and finished neatly past Robert Sanchez in the 18th minute.

Former Chelsea midfielder Mateo Kovacic made sure of victory for the visitors six minutes from time, racing through a disorganised Chelsea midfield and thumping the ball into Sanchez’s net.

Chelsea, in their first Premier League outing under new manager Enzo Maresca, fashioned some hopeful attacking moves through Cole Palmer, Nicolas Jackson and recent signing Pedro Neto but were largely outclassed by their more composed visitors.

Erling Haaland scored on his 100th Manchester City appearance as the Premier League champions began their title defence with a win against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.

Haaland opened the scoring on 18 minutes with a dinked finish over Robert Sanchez for his 91st City goal since joining from Borussia Dortmund in 2022.

Former Chelsea midfielder Mateo Kovacic made the game safe late on with a curling shot from just outside the penalty area.

A low-key match only fleetingly burst into life, with Kevin de Bruyne curling just wide from the edge of the box shortly after Haaland’s opener, before Sanchez made a fine save from Jeremy Doku’s deflected drive.

Nicolas Jackson thought he had equalised after City goalkeeper Ederson fumbled Cole Palmer’s shot into his path, but the forward had just strayed offside.

Senegal striker Jackson fired a first-time volley straight at Ederson as Chelsea pushed for an equaliser after the break.

City also went close through Haaland, while Rico Lewis had a goal disallowed, before Kovacic sealed the points.