Manchester City brushed aside Crystal Palace 4-1 at Selhurst Park as Rayan Cherki and Erling Haaland both scored twice, leaving Enzo Maresca two wins from two league matches since taking charge. Haaland, wearing a black armband in tribute to the late King Harald V of Norway, headed City in front in the 16th minute, rising above Chris Richards to convert Antoine Semenyo's cross. Palace held out until early in the second half, when Cherki turned the game, dancing through a crowd of defenders to dab home a finish that put City 2-0 up.
Cherki's opener arrived in the 53rd minute. Palace responded within two minutes: Yeremy Pino's free-kick struck the crossbar and cannoned in off Gianluigi Donnarumma for an own goal. City regained their two-goal cushion almost immediately, Cherki's deflected effort from distance beating Dean Henderson in the 58th minute, and Haaland completed the scoring in the 83rd minute, turning in a Phil Foden delivery for his second of the afternoon.
Cherki, restored to the starting XI after coming off the bench to set up two goals against Bournemouth the previous week, was named player of the match. "His performance for me was very good, not because of the two goals, but the way he worked off the ball," Maresca said afterwards. "He has to press. His game was complete. He loves football. We know how good he is."
Marc Guéhi, who joined City from Palace for £20m in January, started in central defence against his former club, while £86m signing Ayyoub Bouaddi made his City debut off the bench as Elliot Anderson was withdrawn. Cherki was more critical of his own first-half display: "My performance is so-so. In the first half, we didn't find the space, I played bad. I need to show them I want to play, I want to score."