Haaland helps Man City defeat Chelsea in the first round of the Premier League

Man City defeated Chelsea 4-2 in a friendly on August 4, when Haaland scored a hat-trick. Compared to that match, Enzo Maresca's team showed progress, but not enough to make it difficult for the reigning Premier League champions. Chelsea finished the match with 47% possession, launching six shots, three of which were on target. Those are not bad numbers. But except for the explosive moment in the middle of the second half, the home team was almost helpless.

Man City started well, maintaining a good formation and blocking all Chelsea's attacks. Despite missing some key players, Pep Guardiola still had worthy replacements. The Spanish coach started new signing Savinho, creating conditions for the 20-year-old striker to make his Premier League debut, and Savinho did not disappoint his coach.

After seeing Jeremy Doku being locked down by Marc Cucurella on the right wing, Guardiola instructed Savinho to switch to that wing. From that point on, the Brazilian player continued to make things difficult for Cucurella. He repeatedly passed the player who had just won the Euro with Spain, and caused trouble for Chelsea's goal.

Chelsea were playing pretty solidly until the defence made a mistake for the opening goal. Levi Colwill missed Doku's cross, allowing the ball to fall to Haaland. With his strength and dribbling, the Norwegian forward got past Colwill and Cucurella before beating Robert Sanchez with a close-range finish.

On the offensive side, Chelsea's style of play has improved since Mauricio Pochettino's time. But the human element is still holding them back. Nicolas Jackson has not abandoned the ineffective, sloppy style of play from last season, while Enzo Fernandez is not comfortable playing as an attacking midfielder. Chelsea's bright spots have come on the right flank, with Christopher Nkunku making some free runs, but Man City defender Rico Lewis has been cautious against the Frenchman.

In the second half, Chelsea gradually lost control of the game and made more mistakes. Maresca had to change the formation, bringing on new signing Pedro Neto to replace Nkunku and instructing Cole Palmer to move more centrally. Fernandez moved to the wing to create a triangle of coordination with his teammates.

The change paid off. Chelsea pressed their opponents for about 15 minutes, but then gradually became deadlocked. In the 84th minute, Kovacic struck the decisive blow, sealing the victory for Man City. Chelsea continued to concede goals from a defensive error. Wesley Fofana cleared the ball up when pressed by Haaland but was met by Kovacic. The Croatian striker then beat Moise Caicedo, before finishing from 20 meters, beating Sanchez despite the Chelsea goalkeeper touching the ball.

After scoring, Kovacic made a gesture not to celebrate the goal to show respect to his former club. But this did not ease the disappointment of Chelsea fans at Stamford Bridge. Chelsea chairman Todd Boehly even left early after seeing his team's helplessness.

Chelsea play Servette in the first leg of their Conference League play-off next week before travelling to Wolves in the second round, while Man City face newly promoted Ipswich.