In one of the most eventful weekends of the football season, Manchester City manager Enzo Maresca etched his name into the history books while navigating a storm of off-field controversy surrounding the club.
Maresca became the first manager in Premier League history to win his opening seven league matches in charge following a hard-fought 3–2 victory over Ipswich Town at the Etihad Stadium. The landmark victory was propelled by a brace from Erling Haaland and a clinical opener from Phil Foden, maintaining City’s perfect start to the campaign.
However, the action on the pitch was equaled by the drama surrounding it. The match marked City’s first home fixture since an independent panel delivered a guilty verdict regarding the club’s financial rule breaches. In a show of defiance, thousands of supporters packed the stands holding inflatable bananas, a historical symbol of fan protest that has been revived amidst the sanctions.
The symbol was embraced by the dressing room as well; during post-match media obligations, Foden famously brought an inflatable banana into his interview, dismissing suggestions that the verdict had distracted the squad and insisting the team remains focused exclusively on their match-by-match performance.
Elsewhere in the Premier League, Chelsea steadied their campaign under Xabi Alonso with a commanding 2–0 victory over Everton at the Hill Dickinson Stadium. Alonso, who succeeded Maresca at Stamford Bridge, oversaw a disciplined performance that ended Chelsea’s recent defensive slump and restored momentum ahead of their upcoming European commitments. Liverpool also produced a resilient response following their previous setback at Anfield, fighting back to secure a crucial 2–1 away victory against Brentford to stay firmly within the title picture.
The focus across the continent now shifts to the UEFA Champions League, where a high-stakes midweek schedule features heavyweights Paris Saint-Germain and FC Barcelona going head-to-head. With European stakes escalating and domestic title races tightening across England and Europe, teams are bracing for a pivotal stretch of fixtures heading into the autumn.
