Manchester City opened up their 2025/26 Premier League campaign in impressive fashion on Saturday with an emphatic 4-0 win over Wolves.
The result was already a key one for Pep Guardiola’s men, as it put to bed early talk of the Citizens being the same team as last season.
That did not look to be the case as the changes made over the summer seemed to have a big impact on Man City, with Tijjani Reijnders stealing the show on the pitch and Pepijn Lijnders receiving praise from Jamie Carragher off of it.
One of the most important takeaways from the day was the performance of Erling Haaland, with Chris Sutton stating that the Norwegian superstar looked “sharp” on the opening weekend of the Premier League.
Erling Haaland knee slides during Wolverhampton Wanderers v Manchester City
Photo by James Gill – Danehouse/Getty Images
Erling Haaland looked sharp against Wolves says Chris Sutton
Haaland started his 2025/26 campaign as he means to go on, as the 25-year-old bagged a brace away at Wolves, which has led Carragher to predict that the Man City star will be this season’s top goalscorer in the Premier League.
Sutton was also impressed with the Norwegian international, stating that the £51m striker looked ‘sharp’ at Molineux and that people “shouldn’t be writing him off”.
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“Honestly, Manchester City, I know they were only playing Wolves, but you went for Reijnders, didn’t you? You guys have him in your team. Lucky punt, but he was brilliant. He was really brilliant,” Sutton said on the BBC’s FPL Podcast.
“And Haaland. I’ve gone Haaland. You’ve dismissed Haaland. Haaland looks sharp. You shouldn’t be writing him off, guys.”
Haaland has admitted that he regrets giving away the penalty in the FA Cup final last season and has stated that the previous campaign was not good enough for him.
The striker will be looking to put that right over the coming months, and if the 25-year-old can reach his 2022/23 levels, then Man City will not be too far off winning the Premier League back from Liverpool.
James Trafford crowned PFA Championship Players’ Player of the Year
Another Man City star that impressed against Wolves was James Trafford, who put in a solid display to keep a clean sheet on his debut.
Trafford was brought back to Man City this summer as part of a £31m deal with Burnley, which followed an incredible season for the 22-year-old with the Clarets in the Championship, where the Englishman conceded just 16 goals and kept 29 clean sheets.
The Man City star was rewarded for his efforts on Tuesday night, as the goalkeeper was crowned the PFA Championship Players’ Player of the Year.
“I’m very proud to collect these awards and of what we [Burnley] achieved last season,” Trafford said after winning the award via mancity.com. “We consistently put in really good defensive performances, and it was great to have been a part of that.
“I loved my time at Burnley and improved massively as a goalkeeper and as a person.
“I’m hoping to take all that into the new season now with Manchester City and looking forward to continuing my footballing journey.”