Erling Haaland Scores a brace on Premier League Debut against West Ham United
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Erling Haaland was the only name on the scoresheet in Manchester City’s 2-0 victory over West Ham united on their first game of the season.
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Manchester City debuted their third kit inspired by the iconic Manchester bee.
Manchester City lined up on the first game of the season with a refreshed squad.
GK: Ederson, Defence: Walker, Dias, Ake, Cancelo, Midfield: Rodri, De Bruyne, Gundogan, Attack: Foden, Haaland, Grealish.
New signings Kalvin Phillips and Julian Alvarez made their Premier League debuts for the club from the bench later on in the game.
The game started slow for the champions with their usual style of holding onto the ball and remaining calm under pressure does not seemed to change from the last season tactics.
However, in the 36th minute, a ball played into the box by Gundogan sent Haaland scrambling for the ball and he managed to win a penalty from the West Ham goalkeeper.
Opportunity
City were without a definite penalty taker last season which resulted in a few misses from the spot, but this season they have a superstar striker who was able to win his penalty and stepped right up to take it for the team.
He perfectly placed it into the bottom left of the net, making the game 1-0 before the half-time whistle was blown.
As the players returned for the second-half to begin, no changes were made by either manager which was surprising from the West Ham side since they went into the half-time break with no chances on target all half.
Play resumed and straight away City took complete control again. Within 10 minutes, Haaland was given a golden opportunity to make it 2-0 but missed the net by inches.
He got a second chance in the 65th minute to make up for his earlier mistake and converted a beautiful ball from De Bruyne, slotting it past the keeper to make it 2-0 and giving Haaland a debut brace. Something that hasn’t been done for the club since Sergio Aguero’s debut against Swansea FC in 2011.
From then on City remained calm to see the game out with no other noteworthy attempts on goal from either team but with Manchester City already looking strong coming into the new season of the Premier League.
City playmaker, Kevin De Bruyne spoke to Sky Sports on the signing of Haaland and what he can bring to the team after a great debut.
He said: £He’s there to score goals and help the team. I’m not putting too much pressure on him. I know there’s a lot of hype around him and to start this way is good for him.’’