Erling Haaland and Antoine Semenyo both limped off the pitch with apparent injuries after Manchester City beat Ipswich 3-2 on Saturday.
There had been suggestions Enzo Maresca might rest Haaland for the visit of the Tractor Boys, but he persisted with the big Norwegian here and was richly rewarded with a fine brace. It is the second time in the past four days he has played a full 90 minutes, with those two matches coming after he played 80 against Liverpool last weekend and made four appearances for Norway over the international break.
Heavy workload for key players
Semenyo has had a similarly heavy load as he played 90 minutes in each of City’s last two games. He appeared to pick up a knock to his knee after coming off the bench with 15 minutes to play against Ipswich.
The nature of their injuries are not yet clear, though they do come after Mateo Kovacic was forced off earlier in the day.
City maintain perfect start
Phil Foden complemented Haaland’s brace at the Etihad Stadium but City needed to survive a nervy finish after a Zian Flemming penalty gave the visitors late hope.
It was City’s second successive league victory since the club were found guilty of serious breaches of the competition’s financial regulations last month.
It also maintained their 100 per cent start to the campaign under new manager Enzo Maresca and lifted them six points clear of champions Arsenal at the top of the table.
Haaland denied hat-trick by VAR
Promoted Ipswich rallied to cancel out Foden’s opener through Daizen Maeda but Haaland’s double, taking his tally for the campaign to 12 in all competitions, looked to have reasserted City’s authority.
The Norwegian was denied a hat-trick by VAR, and the game ended in frantic fashion, but City had done enough.
