Premier League leaders Manchester City earned a seventh straight win by beating Ipswich Town 3-2 as their on-pitch resistance showed no signs of slowing.
Banana-crazed fans, a tradition that started in the 1980s, made for a playful atmosphere, and City's players responded with another demonstration of dogged defiance to move six points clear at the top. Their focus on winning football matches despite the huge scrutiny surrounding the club cannot be questioned.
Pep Guardiola was the guest of honour when PSG visited in the week. On Saturday, it was former director Txiki Begiristain, who oversaw an unprecedented period of domestic dominance during his time at the Etihad. City are determined to maintain a united front wherever possible.
Erling Haaland's appetite for scoring goals remains unaffected, netting in each half to take his seasonal tally to 12. He's scored four just this week - and is now the fastest of any player in Premier League history to reach 100 non-penalty goals. VAR cruelly denied him a hat-trick late on, too.
It was the forgotten Phil Foden who edged City ahead, scoring for the first time since December 2025 to end his 23-game run without a goal. Jeremy Doku's trickery gave him the opportunity to beat Christian Walton with a guided low finish and he made it look easy.
And although Daizen Maeda had battling Ipswich level within 155 seconds of Foden's strike, they had no answer for the quality of Haaland. "He's not just scoring," raved Enzo Maresca afterwards, "he's a leader, a captain. He's doing very well."
Mateo Kovacic teed up an easy first for the striker to head home in the first half and Iliman Ndiaye slid him through for a well-taken second. City had been cruising throughout, but jittery finishes have become customary at the Etihad and after Zian Flemming made the scoreline 3-2 from the penalty spot, nerves jangled.
But it would seem that nothing was going to stand in the way of Maresca becoming the first manager to win his first seven Premier League games in charge of a new club. With City fighting against the re-write of their recent history, that is one achievement that cannot be stripped away.
19: GOAL! Doku picks out Foden to score a smart opener on his return to the starting XI.
21: GOAL! Ipswich respond immediately as Maeda shrugs off Marc Guehi far too easily and beats Gianluigi Donnarumma with a low finish.
34: GOAL! Kovacic glides down the righthand side of the box unopposed, before clipping a lovely ball for Haaland to head on the penalty spot.
56: MISS! Nico O'Reilly misses a golden opportunity to make the scoreline more comfortable but skews his header off target.
68: GOAL! Haaland steps onto a brilliant pass from Ndiaye and slots past Walton.
85: VAR! Haaland thinks he's completed his hat-trick before VAR rule Enzo Fernandez offside in the build up.
88: PENALTY! VAR awards Ipswich a penalty after Guehi makes contact with Abdul Fatawu inside the box. Flemming buries the spot-kick.
Erling Haaland limped down the tunnel immediately after the full-time whistle. But Man City boss Enzo Maresca believes his star striker has not suffered anything serious.
He said: "Unfortunately, in 10 minutes, we had four or five players [with injury issues]. Kovacic, Erling, Antoine and Nico. They are inside now. We will see."
On Haaland: "I don't know. I ask him, he said he was ok. Nothing serious. The only one we need to wait a little bit is Antoine, so we will see."
On his managerial record: "Very happy. It's a matter of winning games in this business. Then day by day, we're improving. We completely controlled the game. We are doing well and this is the most important thing."
Ipswich boss Gary O'Neil:
"Really disappointed. I did believe we could take points. I'm proud of what the players gave. It takes a lot to come here and keep yourself in the game. This is an incredible group, they gave everything for 102 minutes. It's a privilege to represent them.
"The second goal against us is what really annoys me. We'd worked on that a lot. And then maybe some quality in the final third, we weren't quite good enough in those moments. It just meant we fell a bit short. We've still shown everyone we can compete."
Asked if it feels any different to be playing Man City against the backdrop of their case with the Premier League, O'Neil added: "No. It's just us against City. Trying to win. Bananas or no bananas. It makes no difference to me."
