Business as usual for Manchester City. Or should that be business as unusual? City may be in a strange kind of limbo but their new normal looked distinctly similar to the old variant. They won. Whatever punishments may await in the wake of the 114 guilty verdicts, which City are appealing, for now they are constructing a title challenge which, perhaps, the Premier League could do without. They are leaders with a six-point advantage at the summit and, some would say, an asterisk or two.
But Enzo Maresca’s stellar start has given him outright possession of a record. The Italian has seven victories out of seven in the top flight, the longest winning start to a reign in the Premier League. Beating Ipswich took him past Carlo Ancelotti, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and his predecessor Pep Guardiola, all tied on six. “For sure I didn’t expect to win seven games out of seven,” said Maresca. “It’s a matter of winning games in this business.” It has been at City, anyway.
So life in the wake of the independent commission’s damning conclusions rather resembled the time before it. There was the statutory Erling Haaland goal, as he scored a second successive brace. The Norwegian has 12 goals in his last eight outings for City. A weakened City team had a talisman in attack ensuring that Ipswich’s competitiveness did not earn them a point. Even when Maresca’s policy of picking Haaland seemed to backfire, after he hobbled off at the end, the Norwegian could reassure his manager. “He said he was okay so hopefully it is nothing serious,” said the Italian.
If so, Haaland was not the only City forward with reasons to enjoy the day. Outside the Etihad Stadium, they did a roaring trade in inflatable bananas. Some are manufactured by their old striker Imre Varadi, the man nicknamed ‘Imre Banana’ in his playing days. If commercial deals involving City have come under the microscope of late, this one will benefit a man who scored goals for them in the second tier in the 1980s.
Maresca’s children were among those trying to buy bananas – “I will ask them now,” he said, waiting to hear if they succeeded – and, in their somewhat surreal way, the bananas form part of the City fans’ response to a ruling that could bring all this to an end. Call it gallows humour or defiance but fans chanted “Stockport away”, envisaging a rather different fixture list. When Jeremy Doku was fouled, they chorused “same old City, always cheating”.
Otherwise, however, it had the air of another of City’s Saturday 3pm kick-offs, just as the Paris Saint-Germain game felt like a big Champions League game. In the interim, anyway, the guilty verdicts may not have changed much.
There was one significant difference, however: Phil Foden ended a 35-game goal drought for City with a belated first strike of 2026. The local marked his first appearance since his Manchester derby red card by slotting home after Doku’s cutback. Maresca, who had predicted Foden would score, looked prophetic. “He's one of the best Premier League players and it's my duty to help him be one of the best players,” said the manager.
Foden owed his presence to a wholesale policy of rotation after City’s considerable efforts against PSG. Maresca made six changes, giving Ayyoub Bouaddi a first Premier League start. With Enzo Fernandez and Elliot Anderson held in reserve, City’s bench cost more than the starters, around £500m. The Argentinian was summoned earlier than expected when Mateo Kovacic, who had been excellent, hobbled off. While five City players sustained problems, Maresca was most concerned about the substitute Antoine Semenyo. “The only one we need to wait on is Antoine,” his manager said.
Kovacic had made City’s second goal as Haaland struck for an eighth game in a row, heading in after a lovely bit of skill and a deft chipped cross from Kovacic. Iliman Ndiaye was the provider of the Norwegian’s first goal against Paris Saint-Germain with a cross for a towering header. This was a different kind of assist, with a perceptive pass, followed by two terrific Haaland touches, the second dispatched beyond Christian Walton. Briefly it seemed that Haaland had his ninth Premier League hat-trick, hooking in a volley after Ndiaye had hit the bar, but Fernandez was offside.
Instead, it brought Ipswich back into the game. They had levelled when Daizen Maeda scored his first goal for Ipswich after darting in behind Marc Guehi. It was not Guehi’s finest day: he fouled the Ipswich substitute Azor Matusiwa for a late penalty which Zian Flemming converted. City have now conceded nine goals in their last three home matches in all competitions and the last few minutes were fraught.
“I am disappointed we haven’t taken points,” said Ipswich manager Gary O’Neil. His team had begun well organised in a 5-4-1 formation he has used against City before and ended on the front foot. They looked a side who will be in the Premier League next year. Will City?