INSIDE 36 minutes of his Premier League debut, Erling Haaland had wiped out one West Ham goalkeeper and won a penalty off a second one.
At that point, Darren Randolph - named by the ever-cautious David Moyes as second substitute goalkeeper - must have been trembling on the Hammers bench, wondering what Manchester City’s Norwegian goal machine had in store for him.
It didn’t come to that but after converting the first-half penalty he had won himself, Haaland added a clinical second past Alphonse Areola, who had replaced Lukasz Fabianski - injured in an accidental collision with the 6ft 5in Centre-forward.
Perhaps, in this age of nine Premier League subs, all opposition managers will opt for Moyes’ belt-and-braces approach to combat the threat of Haaland.
Haaland, the £51million signing from Borussia Dortmund, missed a glaring headed chance for a debut hat-trick before he was replaced 12 minutes from time but he had done more than enough to announce himself after a difficult Community Shield last weekend.
Pep Guardiola’s champions, chasing a third straight title and a fifth in six seasons, are already two points clear of their only genuine title rivals Liverpool.
This was a contest which often resembled an attack-versus-defence training drill - City patiently keeping possession, West Ham sitting deep and showing little ambition.
The London Stadium was in tumbleweed silence for long stretches, aside from the small section of City fans, who taunted Roy Keane - here as a Sky pundit - with songs about Erling’s dad Alfie.
Keane had infamously damaged Haaland’s knee ligaments with a deliberate foul in a Manchester derby.
Haaland Senior was also at the London Stadium, like his assailant. Had they met, it would have been a feistier scrap than the actual football match.
For Haaland junior, this was the start of the elite phase of a carefully-plotted career trajectory which had taken him from his native Norway, to Austria, to Borussia Dortmund and finally to the Premier League champions.
And it was a thoroughly decent start, suggesting it will not take Guardiola’s men long to adjust to the presence of a proper No 9, after back-to-back title wins without one.
City’s last title win was held up by a 2-2 draw here in May but despite four summer arrivals, there were no new arrivals in Moyes’s starting line-up.
Italian Centre-forward Gianluca Scamacca was only deemed fit enough for the bench and Max Cornet, West Ham’s latest signing from Burnley, was introduced to the crowd pre-match.
West Ham actually had a decent first five minutes.
Joao Cancelo - who’d seized Raheem Sterling’s No 7 shirt as a recognition of his status as a playmaking full-back - tried to play a Hollywood pass across his own penalty area and invited the pressure.
The Hammers forced a corner, from which Ruben Dias have his keeper Ederson a black eye as City cleared. Then Pablo Fornals centered and Michail Antonio glanced a header just over.
But then City settle
