MANCHESTER, England, Oct 17 : Manchester City maintained their perfect Premier League start with a 3-2 win over Ipswich Town on Saturday, but the sight of a badly limping Erling Haaland heading straight down the tunnel added another concern to those already hanging over the club.
City are appealing a ruling that they breached 114 Premier League financial rules and deny wrongdoing, but the uncertainty off the pitch has done little to disrupt them on it. Enzo Maresca's side have won seven league games from seven for their best-ever start to a Premier League season.
Maresca became the first manager to win his opening seven Premier League games in charge as City bounced back from Wednesday's Champions League defeat by Paris St Germain, his first meaningful loss as City boss.
Haaland struck twice after Phil Foden's first goal of the season had been cancelled out by Daizen Maeda, with the Norwegian's second his 100th non-penalty Premier League goal, reached in a record 139 appearances.
He was denied a hat-trick by an offside in the build-up before Zian Flemming's stoppage-time penalty made the scoreline closer than the game felt.
But victory came at a potentially heavy cost during a punishing stretch of four games in 10 days.
While Maresca had made six changes to his team from Wednesday, Mateo Kovacic, Matheus Nunes and Nico O'Reilly all went off injured, while Antoine Semenyo was also limping badly at the final whistle.
"Unfortunately, in 10 minutes, we had four, five players (hurt)," Maresca said. "I don't have any news at the moment."
Haaland made a beeline for the tunnel rather than staying to applaud supporters, unusual for the striker, with Semenyo hobbling off not far behind.
DEFIANT VOICE
"I don't know (Haaland's injury)," Maresca said. "I asked him. He said that he was okay. So hopefully, it's nothing serious."
The uncertainty surrounding City has hardly dampened the mood among their supporters, who were in defiant voice at the Etihad as a stadium-record 60,817 watched the game.
They loudly booed the Premier League anthem before kick-off and waved inflatable bananas, reviving a City tradition dating from their days outside the top flight in the 1980s.
Supporters turned the prospect of possible relegation as a sanction into gallows humour, chanting "You're going down with the City!" at the travelling Ipswich fans.
Outside the stadium, vendors did brisk business selling bananas and T-shirts carrying anti-charge slogans, including "Stick your charges where the sun don't shine" and "City til I die."
"The environment was very good," Maresca said. "They just said to me that today was a record attendance, so that's also a nice thing. The fans, the club, the players, we are all together in this journey, and this is the best feeling for everyone."
Maresca has said several times since the team reconvened after the international break that he has instructed his players to shut out external criticism as the club appeals the guilty verdict.
Captain Ruben Dias said earlier in the week that "it's almost impossible to avoid seeing something, even us being as private as we can be and just doing our own lives on your phone. It's impossible to avoid everything."
Maresca praised his players for their focus.
"The players, they need to be worried about people inside the club and about me for the credit I give to them, and they are not worried about people that can judge them from outside.
"But inside, I promise you that the players they are happy. The club gives credit to the players. I give credit to the players. So this is for us the most important thing."
Asked about managing against City with everything that has happened off the pitch, Ipswich boss Gary O'Neil shrugged and said: "No. Just us against City trying to win. Bananas, no bananas, makes no difference."