How good is Rayan Cherki? How many new faces does Maresca still need? Crystal Palace vs Man City takeaways

It’s two wins out of two for Enzo Maresca at Manchester City in the Premier League after a comfortable 4-1 win at Selhurst Park on Friday night.

The line-up revelation was Maresca slotting Marc Guehi back into central defence, with Josko Gvardiol at left-back and Nico O’Reilly stationed in midfield alongside Elliot Anderson. Even so, Palace started better than City, fashioning three shots in the first five minutes.

But Erling Haaland has an almost supernatural ability to score goals against Palace, and the latest came after 17 minutes here, a powerful header from a Semenyo cross that looped over Dean Henderson. It was one of six shots on target for City in the opening 45 minutes — they last hit more in a Premier League first half in May 2024.

Rayan Cherki then put City two up shortly after the break after some wonderful footwork, only for Palace to hit back almost immediately with a Pino free-kick that went in via the woodwork and Gianluigi Donnarumma, the Italian goalkeeper credited with an own goal. Cherki then capped off a frantic five minutes by scoring his second to restore City’s two-goal advantage.

Maresca found time to bring on £86million pound teenager Ayyoub Bouaddi for his City debut, before Haaland added his second, City’s fourth, to round out a highly satisfying evening for the new City boss.

Sam Lee breaks down the key storylines from the game.

Rayan Cherki: one of the Premier League’s main characters

Rayan Cherki’s little glares at the Palace fans when he celebrated his two fantastic goals earned him a colourful send-off from the home fans when he was withdrawn late on, and that is exactly the kind of thing that could make him the Premier League’s biggest star.

He is enigmatic, an artist, and he is up for the fight. His first goal here was very similar to the one he scored against Arsenal at the end of last season, like in a superhero movie when the protagonist slows down time and dodges fists and bullets with ease, in total control of the situation. When he is in full flow like that it is like he is one step ahead of everybody else, and his left deft finish to put City 2-1 up was arguably even more exquisite than the one against Mikel Arteta’s side.

“The man with the magic feet!”

Rayan Cherki doubles Manchester City’s lead with a STUNNING goal pic.twitter.com/9Zea5vFljv

— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) August 28, 2026

It is a mild shame that there was a deflection on his second, but the way he strode towards the Palace area and slammed the ball in is another one of those moments when fans around the world will have sent messages to their group chats to ask if their friends had seen what Cherki did.

It is, for want of a better phrase, main character energy, and with two goals tonight, after two assists from the bench against Bournemouth, he could very easily become the fulcrum of this new-look City team.

The inevitability of Erling Haaland

Haaland now has 10 goals in six appearances against Crystal Palace, and while he may not have looked at his sharpest on the opening weekend, he was at his clinical best on Friday night in south London.

He has not always been the best in the air, despite his huge frame, but his header to open the scoring was beautifully judged, looping dramatically up into the air and back underneath the crossbar. He looked up for this one from the first minute, harrying the Palace defenders and getting back to clear set-pieces, and he added the fourth goal with an emphatic finish to really take the game away from Palace.

Haaland celebrates after scoring his first goal (Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)

He always starts the season well and after a slow start, by his standards, of one goalless game, he seems to be up and running again.

Marc Guehi back in a familiar role

Before the game, Enzo Maresca told Sky Sports that he wanted Guehi in midfield against Bournemouth last weekend because he needed more bite in the middle of the pitch. “After the Arsenal game, we struggled a little bit in the middle of the pitch. This is a country, a league where you need strong midfielders. Marc, he can do that.”

He certainly did do that, especially when winning the ball back. Even so, Maresca never planned to ask him to do the same again at Selhurst Park and so it was back to defence for him, and he was no less busy.

With City’s system asking Josko Gvardiol to join the attack, and to leave his left-back position to press high, it does mean that Guehi has a lot of covering to do on the left flank, and Palace were very keen to try to exploit those kind of spaces throughout the game.

It meant that Guehi had to be on guard, and he was impressive yet again, in a completely different way to last weekend. City’s recent transfer record is under deserved scrutiny after jettisoning many of the players who had been signed in the last two years, but Guehi, who arrived in January, and of course Cherki, are huge assets.

Why City still have work to do in the transfer window

It is a good job that City did not urgently need their bench on Friday night because it was surely as light as it has been in recent memory, including injury crises.

And that’s the thing, beyond Jeremy Doku, they do not really have any injury worries at the moment, it is just that they have sold their fringe players and are yet to bring in the replacements.

Mateo Kovacic came on in the final 20 minutes when City brought off Gvardiol, who had a slight limp. Kovacic had started all of City’s four pre-season matches, including the Community Shield, but it was he who was left out for Guehi against Bournemouth, a sign of his standing in the pecking order.

With 10 minutes left, new signing Ayyoub Bouaddi, the 18-year-old who cost £86m from Lille, came on for his debut, as did 18-year-old winger Ryan McAidoo, who is admittedly very promising and could feature in the domestic cups this season, but hardly a sign of fantastic squad depth.

Ayyoub Bouaddi made his City debut on Friday night (Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)

With Jack Grealish left out as he prepares for a move away, it was glaringly obvious that City need at least three new players to give them any sort of options this season.

Allan is set to join from Palmeiras and they are trying to complete deals for Enzo Fernandez and Illiman Ndiaye, but the bench this evening does suggest that they might even need another (even if the first XI’s performances suggest things are ticking along quite well).

What did Maresca say?

We will bring you this after he has spoken at the post-match press conference.

What next for City?

Saturday, September 5: Coventry City (home), Premier League, 3pm UK, 10am ET