Manchester City opened their title defense with a bang as they secured three points on the road against Chelsea.

“Three points, a perfect start,” Erling Haaland said after the match.

Haaland played in his 100th match as a member of Manchester City and celebrated in the only way he knows how… by scoring a goal.

In the 18th minute, Haalnd finished a beautiful through ball from Bernardo Silva to put City on the board early.

“I knew exactly what to do, I think it was a really good goal. I remember last year he made a really good save against me, it had been irritating me for a long time so, yeah, it was a perfect goal.”

Former Chelsea midfielder Mateo Kovacic smashed one home in the 84th minute to seal the deal and help City begin the season with three points.

Goalkeeper Ederson opened his season with a clean sheet but it didn’t come easy as he was forced into three saves and very easily could have conceded at some point in the match.

For Pep Guardiola, it was a good but surprising start to the season for City.

“I didn’t expect it,” Guardiola told Sky. “We are away from our best so three points is the good news. The bad news is we have 65 games ahead of us.

Guardiola spoke to the joy that managing this City squad brings to him.

For me it’s an immense privilege to be manager of these guys. They gave me everything: the joy, the happiness, the commitment to defend.

Overall, it was an almost cruise-control-type performance from Manchester City, one that they will hope to replicate moving forward in the Premier League as they search for their fifth straight title.

City will be back in action on Saturday when they take on newly promoted Ipswich Town at 10:00 AM EST.