LONDON: Erling Haaland scored his 91st goal in his 100th appearance for Manchester City on Sunday as the champions kicked off their Premier League title defense with a lively 2-0 away win over Chelsea. The big Norwegian, fed by Bernardo Silva, forced his way between Marc Cucurella and Wesley Fofana and finished neatly past Robert Sanchez in the 18th minute.

Former Chelsea midfielder Mateo Kovacic made sure of victory for the visitors six minutes from time, racing through a disorganized Chelsea midfield and thumping the ball into Sanchez’s net. Chelsea, in their first Premier League outing under new manager Enzo Maresca, fashioned some hopeful attacking moves through Cole Palmer, Nicolas Jackson and recent signing Pedro Neto but were largely outclassed by their more composed visitors.

Earlier, Yoane Wissa’s close-range finish gave Brentford a winning start to their Premier League campaign with a hard-fought 2-1 home victory over Crystal Palace on Sunday. Palace thought they had the lead after 26 minutes through Eberechi Eze, whose spectacular free kick beat goalkeeper Mark Flekken at his near post.

Referee Sam Barrott had blown for a foul on the edge of the box by Will Hughes on Nathan Collins as Eze struck the ball, however, and as he blew his whistle before the ball entered the goal, VAR could not intervene. “The referee said he blew too early and he made a mistake.

Fair enough, he made a mistake,” Eze told Sky Sports. “We had so many chances to score, especially me. We move on to the next one.” Palace manager Oliver Glasner told reporters: “I think everyone was surprised that the referee whistled so early, but I don’t complain about it because the decision is made.”

Glasner did not blame the defeat on the disallowed goal. “Many things I saw today we did well, but in decisive situations we weren’t on our top level and that’s why we lost.” England striker Ivan Toney was left out of Brentford’s squad altogether due to other clubs’ interest, his manager Thomas Frank said.

Frank said the decision to leave Toney out was made on Thursday. “It’s part of the game we have to play, we don’t want to give too much away,” he told reporters with a smile. Brentford still had clinical forwards on the pitch, however, and scored against the run of play three minutes after Eze’s disallowed goal when Bryan Mbuemo finished off a sweeping move.

Wissa released Mbuemo down the right and he cut inside Palace captain Marc Guehi, starting despite ongoing interest from Newcastle United, and fired home. The visitors pressed for an equalizer after the break, going close twice through Adam Wharton, before they hit back in the 56th minute.

Daniel Munoz nodded a deep cross back towards goal and, with substitute Odsonne Edouard lurking behind him, Brentford defender Ethan Pinnock could only prod the ball past his own keeper. Palace had the ball in the net again minutes later, but Edouard strayed offside before putting a fine first-time finish beyond Flekken.

Brentford scored a slightly fortunate winner in the 76th minute, as Collins’ effort was clawed away from goal by goalkeeper Dean Henderson but only into the path of Wissa who tapped home. Flekken produced a great save from Eze as Brentford withstood late pressure to hold on for all three points and record their first win over Palace since 1977. “It was hard,” Frank said. “Great win in a tight, even game against a very good Palace side.”

England international Ivan Toney was not part of Brentford’s squad for their Premier League opener against Crystal Palace on Sunday due to uncertainty over his future. The 28-year-old has just one year left on his contract with the London club and is expected to leave before the end of the transfer window this month. A lucrative move to Saudi Arabia has been rumored with most of the Premier League’s big guns unlikely to add a striker before the window closes.

“There’s a lot of things going on with Ivan, there’s some transfer interest. Because of all that, we decided not to involve him in the squad,” Brentford boss Thomas Frank told Sky Sports. Toney shone in the 2022/23 season, scoring 20 Premier League goals for the Bees.

However, he missed the first half of last season due to a ban for breaching betting rules and struggled to make the same impact on his return. Toney, though, was a key option off the bench for Gareth Southgate in England’s run to the Euro 2024 final.

“He’s been a fantastic player for us, but we showed last year especially that we can deal without him,” added Frank. “There’s interest, but there’s nothing close (to completion).” Palace captain Marc Guehi does start despite the Eagles rejecting a series of bids for the England defender from Newcastle. — Agencies