Man City go six clear as fans boo anthem and wave bananas — SkimNews
Get the Sports newsletter
Daily sports — scores, transfers, the storylines from the leagues you actually follow. Free.
- Manchester City beat Ipswich at a record-crowd Etihad Stadium (60,817) to move six points clear at the top of the Premier League with a seventh straight league win.
- City fans booed the Premier League anthem before kick-off and turned the Etihad into a sea of yellow inflatable bananas in their first home game since the club was found guilty of breaching the league's financial rules between 2009-10 and 2017-18 by creating 'sham contracts' that inflated sponsorship deals by £830m.
- Phil Foden scored his first goal of 2026 on his return from suspension and carried an inflatable banana into his Match of the Day interview, saying the fans were giving the players 'that extra boost that we need.'
- Enzo Maresca, succeeding Pep Guardiola (20 trophies in 10 seasons), became the first manager in Premier League history to win his first seven league games in charge.
- City's start is their best to a league season since 1897, joining only Chelsea in 2005-06 (first nine) and Liverpool in 2019-20 (first eight) in winning the opening seven Premier League fixtures — both went on to win the title.
Why it matters: City are six points clear with a perfect seven-win start, and the historical record (Chelsea 2005-06, Liverpool 2019-20) shows this kind of opening translates into titles; but the £830m sham-contract finding and ongoing appeal leave the legitimacy of any title tethered to off-field jeopardy.
Ask SkimNews
