Cherki and Haaland Both Score Twice as Man City Sweep Palace Aside 4-1

August 29, 2026

Rayan Cherki finally looks at home in a Manchester City shirt. The France forward scored twice inside six second-half minutes at Selhurst Park on Friday night as City beat Crystal Palace 4-1, making it two wins from two under Enzo Maresca.

Erling Haaland got the other two. Palace, meanwhile, have now lost both of their opening fixtures and are still waiting for a point.

How the goals came

Haaland opened the scoring in the 17th minute with a guided header, picked out by Antoine Semenyo. It was his first league goal of the season, which feels strange to write about a man who scored 27 of them last term.

City kept the game at 1-0 until just before the hour, when Cherki collected the ball, danced past two challenges and finished neatly for 2-0. Palace's response was almost immediate, and it was bizarre. Yeremy Pino's free-kick cleared the wall, cracked off the crossbar, struck Gianluigi Donnarumma on the way down and went in off the post. Donnarumma became the first City goalkeeper to score a Premier League own goal since Costel Pantilimon back in December 2013.

Any hope of a Palace comeback lasted three minutes. Cherki's second, from Josko Gvardiol's pass, took a deflection off Chris Richards and went in. Haaland then rounded it off with six minutes left, teed up by Phil Foden, who finished the night with two assists.

Cherki has clicked

The 23-year-old arrived with a reputation for doing lovely things in moments that did not always matter. On this evidence he has grown out of that. Maresca said afterwards that Cherki controlled Adam Wharton in midfield, which is a specific and slightly surprising compliment for a player signed to create rather than press.

Foden looked sharp too. There is a clear sense of transition about this City side, but on nights like this the pieces fit.

Palace have work to do

Two games, two defeats, and a squad still adjusting to life after Oliver Glasner, who took Palace to the FA Cup and Conference League and has since moved to Nottingham Forest. Wharton was excellent again, which will not stop the speculation around him, and Forest are reported to have bid around 22m for a Palace player already this window.

Losing to a City side spending at this level is no disgrace. But the fixture list does not offer much of a hiding place. Palace travel to Fulham next, then host Ipswich before going to Leeds, all before the first international break.