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Enzo Maresca maintained his flawless start to his first league season as Manchester City manager, as the Sky Blues produced a commanding away display at Selhurst Park.

After edging Bournemouth late on the opening day of the Premier League campaign, Manchester City kept their winning run going under Maresca. A brace each from Erling Haaland and Rayan Cherki delivered the decisive damage against a struggling Crystal Palace side at Selhurst Park.

Although Crystal Palace began the match with plenty of intensity, they were unable to match the level and class of an unrelenting Manchester City in their first home fixture of the season, leaving them still without a point and rooted to the bottom of the Premier League table.

The home side made a bright start as Eddie Nketiah beat his marker and tested Gianluigi Donnarumma at the near post inside the opening two minutes, winning a corner. Soon after, Daichi Kamada’s effort from the edge of the area was blocked, bringing Palace their second corner in as many minutes.

In spite of Palace’s lively opening, it was Manchester City who went closest in the first 10 minutes. Elliot Anderson’s attempt was saved, and Erling Haaland somehow could not convert the rebound as Palace defended resolutely and cleared the danger.

Manchester City gradually took charge and opened the scoring in the 16th minute. Antoine Semenyo delivered an inviting looping cross into the penalty area, where Erling Haaland rose highest and headed beyond Dean Henderson into the far corner to hand Enzo Maresca’s side an early advantage at Selhurst Park.

City continued to build after going in front, dictating possession and moving the ball forward sharply. They really should have gone two up within the first 22 minutes when the ball dropped kindly for an unmarked Phil Foden inside the box, but the attacker lifted his close-range effort comfortably over the crossbar.

With the travelling fans making themselves heard, Rayan Cherki’s overlapping run on the right was picked out neatly by Nico O’Riley. The Frenchman then drove a dangerous ball across the area, only for Phil Foden to mistime his header from what was a gilt-edged chance to double City’s lead before the half-hour mark.

After enduring a sustained spell of pressure from Manchester City, Pierre Sage’s team appeared to have ridden out the storm by the 33rd minute. A quick burst of opportunities for the hosts ended with Tyrick Mitchell getting a point-blank opening, but he glanced his header just wide of the post.

After one minute of added time, the first half ended with the visitors heading into the interval holding a deserved one-goal lead.

Crystal Palace created the first major opening of the second half and nearly equalised. In the 48th minute, Mitchell picked out Nketiah, who drove into the penalty area from the left, but his first-time finish went beyond Donnarumma and narrowly wide of the far post.

Despite that near miss from the hosts, Manchester City did not take long to extend their lead after the restart. Foden surged into the penalty area and slipped a pass through to Cherki, whose quick footwork took him past the final line of the Crystal Palace defence before he calmly rolled the ball beyond Henderson and into the net.

Yeremy Pino produced an almost immediate reply to City’s second goal with an excellent free-kick that struck the bar, bounced off the back of Donnarumma and went into the Manchester City goal. It was Pierre Sage’s side’s first goal of the campaign and cut the deficit with more than 30 minutes still to play in South London.

In a frantic spell, City soon restored their two-goal cushion as Rayan Cherki scored again for Maresca’s Manchester City. His superb effort from outside the box took a slight deflection off Chris Richards, but it still had enough on it to beat the fully stretched Dean Henderson and make it 3-1 to the visitors in the 59th minute.

After that goal, Manchester City once again began to control possession and remove the tempo from the contest. In the 84th minute, Foden claimed his second assist of the evening as he dribbled towards the Crystal Palace back line before laying the ball into the path of the talismanic Haaland, who allowed it to run across his body onto his left foot and then blasted it into the roof of the net to make it 4-1. It was his second goal of the night and his second of the season so far.

Haaland’s brace proved to be the final decisive moment of the match as City continued to dictate play until the final whistle arrived in the 95th minute. Manchester City sealed an impressive 4-1 away win, a result that sends Maresca’s side to the top of the league for now.