Haaland double keeps Manchester City perfect as nine-man Brentford lose to Liverpool

Manchester City made it seven Premier League wins from seven with a 3-2 victory over Ipswich Town, while Liverpool recovered from a goal down to beat Brentford 2-1 after the hosts were reduced to nine players.

Manchester City 3-2 Ipswich Town

Erling Haaland scored twice as Manchester City preserved their perfect start to the season, although Ipswich Town pushed the champions close at the Etihad Stadium.

The match began in a hostile atmosphere, with supporters booing the Premier League anthem during Manchester City’s first home league fixture since the club was found guilty of more than 100 alleged financial rule breaches.

Ipswich started positively, but City took the lead when Phil Foden converted a dangerous delivery from Jeremy Doku.

The visitors responded quickly. Abdoul Ouattara sent a superb pass behind Marc Guehi, allowing Daizen Maeda to run through and equalise.

City restored their advantage before the interval when Haaland rose to meet a cross from Mateo Kovacic and headed past Christian Walton. Ipswich’s goalkeeper kept his side in the contest with several saves, including an impressive effort to deny Ruben Dias from distance.

Ipswich continued to pose a threat after the restart, with Emersonn and Nico O’Reilly both missing headed opportunities. Haaland then extended City’s lead to 3-1, finding space through the centre of the defence before finishing calmly.

Zian Flemming converted a late penalty to give Ipswich renewed hope. Haaland was denied the opportunity to complete his hat-trick when VAR ruled against him in the closing stages, but City held on.

The result extended Manchester City’s unbeaten Premier League record against newly promoted teams to 32 matches. They are only the third side in Premier League history to win their opening seven league games, and the previous two both went on to win the title.

Brentford 1-2 Liverpool

Liverpool came from behind to defeat Brentford, who ended the match with nine players following red cards for Yehor Yarmolyuk and Vitaly Janelt.

There were few clear chances during the opening 20 minutes, although Brentford gradually became more involved. Igor Thiago was stopped by an important defensive intervention from Jeremy Jacquet, while Liverpool looked dangerous on the counter-attack.

Brentford took the lead shortly before half-time when Thiago delivered an accurate cross and Keane Lewis-Potter stretched to guide the ball beyond Alisson.

The home side’s position worsened in stoppage time before the interval. Yarmolyuk was sent off after directing his head towards Jacquet during an altercation.

Liverpool found it difficult to penetrate Brentford’s compact defence early in the second half, while Caoimhin Kelleher made a significant save to keep out Alexis Mac Allister.

The visitors eventually equalised when Victor Munoz cut inside and placed a composed finish into the corner. Alexander Isak then completed the turnaround, controlling the ball under pressure before beating Kelleher to make it 2-1.

Liverpool continued to pursue a third goal, with Bradley Barcola hitting the crossbar, while Thiago missed a late chance to level.

Brentford’s hopes ended in stoppage time when Janelt was shown a second yellow card for stopping a promising Liverpool counter-attack. The victory ended Liverpool’s wait for a league win over Brentford under their current Spanish coach, ended the Bees’ unbeaten start and moved Liverpool above them in the Premier League table.