Haaland Hat-Trick Powers Manchester City Past Ipswich

Erling Haaland scored a hat-trick as Manchester City showed Ipswich just how tough life in the Premier League can be with a comfortable victory at Etihad Stadium.

The Tractor Boys are back in the top flight for the first time in 22 years and they had a dream start at the defending champions as Sammie Szmodics scored on his full debut, squeezing a shot through the legs of Ederson after seven minutes.

But the joy was very short-lived as Manchester City hit back with three goals in four minutes.

First, Haaland equalised with a well-taken penalty, given following a review by the video assistant referee after Sam Allison had initially deemed Savinho had dived.

Kevin de Bruyne then capitalised on hesitation by Ipswich goalkeeper Arijanet Muric to drive home before Haaland made it 3-1 after just 16 minutes when he rounded Muric to fire in.

Manchester City could have been even further ahead as they hit the woodwork twice, although Ipswich had a strong shout for a penalty denied when Leif Davis appeared to be brought down by Brazil winger Savinho inside the box.

The second half saw arguably the biggest cheer of the game as Ilkay Gundogan – who completed his move from Barcelona back to City on a one-year deal on Friday – came on to mark his return to the club.

Just as Ipswich looked to have limited Manchester City to three goals, Haaland struck with a low drive from distance late on to complete his hat-trick.

Victory means Manchester City have a 100% record from their two games so far while Ipswich, who faced Liverpool in their Premier League opener, are waiting for their first points after the most difficult of starts.

This was a typical Manchester City display against a newly promoted side as they had pretty much full control from the first minute until the last.

Even after conceding from the visitors’ first attempt on target, Pep Guardiola’s players remained calm and composed and responded with three quickfire goals to extinguish the enthusiasm that Szmodics’ early strike had injected into the travelling Ipswich supporters.

Manchester City showed off the Premier League trophy before kick-off, proudly proclaiming themselves as history-makers with a banner after winning their fourth title in a row – and their pursuit of a fifth has got off to the best possible start with routine wins over Chelsea and now Ipswich.

Even more worrying for their title rivals is just how refreshed and hungry Haaland looks.

The Norway striker, winner of the Golden Boot in the last two seasons, had a summer off while many of his colleagues played in international tournaments and was a constant menace to the Ipswich defence.

His first hat-trick of the season means he has four goals already after just two games.

Ipswich will learn lessons from tough day

Even the most optimistic of Ipswich fans would have accepted that their side were always unlikely to get anything at Etihad Stadium, where Manchester City were unbeaten in their previous 44 games in all competitions.

Instead this was about learning from the experience and taking both the positives and negatives.

Szmodics was the Championship’s top scorer last season with 27 goals and provided a glimpse of how he could prove a key addition in Ipswich’s survival bid as he scored just seven minutes into his full debut.

But Ipswich will know they need to be even more focused than they are perhaps used to, as they conceded three goals in four minutes to swiftly end any hopes of an upset.

They were much improved defensively in the second half, but their season begins in earnest in their next game – as they host Fulham in a fixture they will be targeting their first three points of the season from.

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