Haaland’s debut double gives Man City winning start at West Ham
Haaland’s debut double gives Man City winning start at West Ham :
Manchester City beat West Ham 2-0 at London Stadium as Erling Haaland scored twice.
Haaland scored a penalty in the first half, followed by a clinical finish from the big-money signing after the break as the champions collected three points from their opening game.
Guardiola sees Haaland as the striker he has not had since Sergio Aguero left, so it was fitting that the new arrival became only the second City player to score a brace in his Premier League debut, after the former Argentina international did so in August 2011.
With Angelo Ogbonna, Issa Diop and new signing Nayef Aguerd all injured, Hammers manager David Moyes started full-back Ben Johnson at centre-back alongside Kurt Zouma.
City took a while to get going, and they thought they had taken the lead when Haaland played in Ilkay Gundogan, who squared for Kevin De Bruyne, only for the offside flag to rise.
After taking a knock in a challenge for the ball, Lukasz Fabianski went off, and Haaland, Alphonse Areola replaced him.
Areola’s first contribution was to bring down Haaland when he was through on goal to concede a 36th-minute penalty that the Norway striker dispatched calmly.
In the second half, Declan Rice skied a presentable chance over after an error by Gundogan, and some uncharacteristic City passes crept in as the Hammers sought an equaliser. Gianluca Scamacca came on just before the hour for the Hammers.
After 65 minutes, though, a City counterattack saw De Bruyne slide his new team-mate in and Haaland coolly placed his shot past Areola.
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