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Rayan Cherki’s Selhurst masterclass as Man City brush Palace aside

Published 11:00 29 Aug 2026 BST

Updated 11:00 29 Aug 2026 BST

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Rayan Cherki’s Selhurst masterclass as Man City brush Palace aside

Homesport

Easy win for Maresca's men

Manchester City beat Crystal Palace 4-1 at Selhurst Park on Friday and Rayan Cherki scored twice in the second half, in what BBC Sport called the club's first heavyweight marker of the post-Pep Guardiola era.

Erling Haaland also scored twice, while Palace's goal came from a Yeremy Pino free-kick that went down as a Gianluigi Donnarumma own goal.

It continued City's winning start to the Premier League under Enzo Maresca.

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Rayan Cherki's unprintable verdict on his own first half

The 23-year-old gave what the BBC described as a colourfully uncomplimentary and unprintable description of his own first-half performance, when asked live on television how much he had enjoyed the game.

On the other hand, Haaland, standing alongside him waiting to hand over the player-of-the-match award, could only laugh.

Cherki, who assisted City's two late goals against Bournemouth on the opening weekend, was rewarded with a start at Selhurst Park.

Maresca had said after the Bournemouth game that "if he is not happy he wants to show it".

Cherki has a reputation for unpredictability: he had a disappointing World Cup with France, starting only the third-fourth place play-off against England before being replaced at half-time with his side 4-0 down.

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Meanwhile at Palace, Adam Wharton was rated a class act in BBC's player ratings, credited with composure, vision and a superb range of passing, but Palace were eventually over-run.

Dean Henderson had no chance with City's goals. The rest of the round follows on Saturday in JOE's live Premier League gameweek two coverage.