Manchester City maintained their flawless Premier League start with a narrow 1-0 win over Coventry City, where Enzo Maresca’s men survived some late nervy moments.
With the striker’s header, a bullet into the far corner from an Antoine Semenyo ball into the box, finding the net, there was nothing Carl Rushworth in goal for Coventry could do, and new signing Enzo Fernandez was also impressive on debut, having been drafted into the XI only minutes before kickoff.
Haaland may well have added to his tally as Coventry kept him out twice by denying him another strong hand by the custodian, but a third goal was also ruled out for offside, and City also weathered some other difficult moments.
They were indebted again to their goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma for making a treble of saves from Jack Rudoni, Loum Tchaouna and Ellis Simms, and that helped him preserve a rare clean sheet.
Also, Coventry’s Taiwo Awoniyi somehow missed one chance after he went through alone on goal after being picked out with a free-kick, following a defensive blunder.
City controlled proceedings with 78 per cent possession and had no fewer than 800 passes, but they didn’t put the game beyond Coventry until time had run out, and three wins out of three put them at the top of their early-season form table, with the visitors having won no games and picked up no points so far this season.
