LONDON: An abnormally short preseason and a lengthy list of injury and coronavirus-related absentees didn’t stop Manchester City getting off to a fast start in the English Premier League on Monday.

City scored in the first half through Kevin de Bruyne and Phil Foden before weathering a fightback from Wolverhampton Wanderers in a 3-1 win at Molineux.

With Liverpool — their biggest rival for the title — already on two wins from two matches, City were under pressure to avoid an early slip-up after starting the season late owing to its involvement in the latter stages of the Champions League in August.

It was just 37 days since that humbling loss to Lyon in the Champions League quarter-finals, and in that time, three players — Aymeric Laporte, Riyad Mahrez and most recently Ilkay Gundogan — contracted the virus.

Only Mahrez was available against Wolves, and he never made it off the substitutes’ bench.

City’s players, though, quickly slipped into their groove and won the game through their impressive first-half display against opponents that did the home-and-away double over them last season.

De Bruyne converted a penalty in the 20th minute after he was brought down by Romain Saiss just inside the area and was then the architect of the second goal by slipping in Raheem Sterling, who cut the ball back for Foden to score in the 33rd.

Raul Jimenez pulled a goal back for Wolves with a header in the 78th, but Gabriel Jesus made the game safe with a deflected third for City in the fifth minute of injury time.

DREAM DEBUT

With a penalty save, a clean sheet and a win, goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez couldn’t have wished for a better debut for Aston Villa.

Villa opened their campaign beating 10-man Sheffield United 1-0, and had Martinez — a signing from Arsenal last week — to thank after he tipped aside a 36th-minute penalty by John Lundstram.

The visitors were a man light by then after John Egan’s red card in the 12th for pulling back Ollie Watkins as last man as they fought for a long ball forward, and they couldn’t hold out.

Ezri Konsa got the winner in the 63rd, nodding into the bottom corner at the far post after fellow centre-back Tyrone Mings flicked on a corner.

Sheffield United have lost their first two games, having already been beaten by Wolves.

GOAL SPREE

Forty-four goals were scored in the second round of games in the league, a single-round record since the division was reduced to 20 teams in 1995.

It beat the 43 on the weekend of Feb. 5-6 in 2011.

Published in Dawn, September 23rd, 2020