Man City, where thirst for wins never ends

Manchester City's striker Erling Haaland drinks water in their match against Chelsea. [AFP]

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.

Meanwhile, Brentford shrugged off the absence of Ivan Toney to get their Premier League season off to a flying start with a 2-1 win over Crystal Palace yesterday.

Bryan Mbeumo and Yoane Wissa got the goals for the Bees, who had left out England international Toney over speculation surrounding his future.

Toney has less than a year left to run on his contract with the London club and is attracting interest from Saudi clubs after his role in helping England to the Euro 2024 final.

Brentford boss Thomas Frank said pre-match his side had shown last season they can cope without Toney -- who missed much of last term due to a betting ban.

Marc Guehi did captain Crystal Palace despite the interest in him shown by Newcastle.

The England defender had an outstanding Euros but a moment to forget for Brentford’s opening goal.

Mbeumo raced onto Wissa’s pass and cut inside Guehi before firing into the far corner.

Palace ended last season in sensational form under Oliver Glasner and will feel hard done by not to have earned at least a point.

Eberechi Eze had a brilliantly executed near post free-kick harshly ruled out for a foul by Will Hughes when the score was still level at 0-0.

A bright Palace start to the second half was rewarded when Ethan Pinnock turned Daniel Munoz’s header into his own goal. Seconds later, Odsonne Edouard slotted home Eze’s pass only to be denied by a marginal offside decision.

Instead it was Brentford who grabbed the vital third goal.

Dean Henderson could only parry Nathan Collins’ shot straight into the path of Wissa, who bundled home.

Eze was twice denied by Mark Flekken in the closing stages but Brentford held out for an impressive three points.