Haaland powers Man City to confident victory over West Ham

Erling Haaland scored twice as Manchester City began their Premier League title defence in confident fashion by brushing aside West Ham 2-0 in front of a record crowd at the London Stadium.

A crowd of 62,443 packed into the Hammers' home ground - the biggest of any London-based club - only to be met by the towering presence of Haaland and the wizardry of Ilkay Gundogan.

After a lethargic start, where the hosts were forced into changing goalkeepers after an untimely injury to Lukasz Fabianski, City captain Gundogan seized the initiative with an incisive pass that found the clever run of former Borussia Dortmund striker Haaland, who was then upended by substitute 'keeper Alphonse Areola.

The Norway international predictably found the back of the net from 12 yards with a coolly-struck spot-kick to open the scoring (26), before latching onto Kevin De Bruyne's defence-splitting ball and slotting home his second of the afternoon (65).

Haaland is the second debutant in Premier League history to win a penalty and then successfully convert it, and the second striker to register twice on their City debut, matching Sergio Aguero's feat from August 2011.

"Our opening fixture couldn't be more testing," David Moyes acknowledged in his pre-match programme notes, and his side felt the full force of City's attacking vigour during a game that grew steadily in entertainment value.

Michail Antonio had threatened to break the deadlock early on, directing a header marginally over, but it was De Bruyne who went closest when rounding off an archetypal City move in the 27th minute, having been unsurprisingly found by Gundogan - the goal was swiftly chalked off by the linesman's flag.

Pep Guardiola's side, who have invested heavily in the