Matty Warhurst says it’s always a good feeling to score goals and help City win and he did just that in our 4-0 win over Everton in the Under-18 Premier League North on Saturday.

The striker bagged a brace, a goal either side of half-time, to help City’s Under-18s pick up our first league win of the 2024/25 season.

That makes it four goals in two games for the 17-year-old after his brace in City’s 2-2 draw at Norwich in the Under-18 Premier League Cup earlier in the week.

And it was a league win that Warhurst believes will also boost the teams confidence once they return from the upcoming international break.

“It’s a really good feeling,” said Warhurst when asked on what the win means for him and the team.

“Obviously we won 4-0 and I feel like we dominated the whole game and created a lot of chances and personally scoring two goals is always a nice feeling.

“Once you get into a little rhythm [scoring goals] you look forward to every game and I’m feeling confident.

“Going into this game I did my analysis of Everton before the game so I was confident I’d get on the score sheet.

“It’s been great working with the new players too,” Warhurst continued. “The wingers get past the defenders and put crossed in which is what I live off.

“So I’m really looking forward to playing with the boys more who all have a lot of potential.

“I think after a win like this it gives everyone a lot of confidence and I think everyone is looking forward to the next few games when we get back from the international break.

“The lads who aren’t on international duty will train and keep the intensity high and then look to prepare for Nottingham Forest together when we all return.”

‘That’s what I did today’ – Alfa-Ruprecht’s delight after Everton brace

Farid Alfa-Ruprecht has spoke of his delight after scoring a brace in our Elite Development Squad’s emphatic 5-0 Premier League 2 win over Everton.

City record second straight league win with five-star success over Everton

Ben Wilkinson’s side entered the meeting with the Toffees aiming to record back-to-back league wins after dramatically beating Derby 3-2 in the assignment before.

After a goalless opening 35 minutes, the German forward broke the deadlock when collecting a pinpoint Jacob Wright pass before firing low into the net.

Max Alleyne then doubled our advantage before half-time and Alfa-Ruprecht grabbed his second after the break when ghosting into the box and coolly tapped a cross into an empty net.

A Justin Oboavwoduo double added the gloss to fine afternoon for our EDS as we climbed to fifth in the PL2 table.

And Alfa-Ruprecht paid tribute to his team-mates following the full-time whistle.

“It definitely feels good [to score two goals],” he explained.

“Especially to help the team and we won 5-0 so I’m happy about the team performance and also my individual performance.

“The first one, I was inside the full-back on the transition and he then played me in, I took my touch and just scored.

City U18s down 10-man Toffees in dominating first league win

“The second one, something happened on the left side and then the cross came in and I was at the back post luckily and scored.

“It’s so good [to play with my team-mates]. I don’t have to shout for the ball because good players they see it and I just have to execute in the final third. That’s what I did today.”

Throughout Pep Guardiola’s side’s pre-season tour of the United States and during the beginning of the Premier League season, City have afforded opportunities to a number of Academy players.

This has seen Nico O’Reilly start in our Community Shield triumph over Manchester United in the traditional curtain-raiser and James McAtee and Rico Lewis involved in league matches.

For Alfa-Ruprecht, he’s encouraged by the pathway into the senior team at the Etihad Stadium.

He added: “It’s definitely a good thing to see [EDS players involved in the first-team] because we all play in the same structure.

“Hopefully some more players will also play in the first-team and show our ability.”

Haaland: It’s not good for the brain to think about positive start!

Erling Haaland is not getting carried away by the start of the season as he heads off to the international break after helping City to a perfect start with three wins out of three.

Match Report

Back-to-back Haaland treble maintains City’s perfect start

The Norway striker has been in outstanding form with seven goals so far including back-to-back hat-tricks.

His latest came in the 3-1 victory over West Ham on Saturday as he took his remarkable tally to 69 goals in 69 Premier League appearances.

With Arsenal, the runners-up for the past two seasons, drawing earlier in the day, many pundits saw it as a slip-up but Haaland won’t overthink the title race so early in the campaign.

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“The start to the season is good but don’t forget there are 35 games left – there are plenty of points to play for,” he said.

“It’s about focusing game-by-game and to get the three points.

“We can’t think too much because it’s not a good thing for the brain. We focus on trying to become better as a team and as individuals – on and off the pitch.”

Haaland was delighted with City’s performance as we dominated for large parts of the game at the London Stadium.

The Hammers fought their way back into the game and were pushing for an equaliser until our number nine wrapped up the win with his hat-trick goal.

“I’m happy for the win and of course another hat-trick is lovely,” he said.

“I think in the first half we dominated, and we could have scored several goals. In the second half, they had the ball more and chances.

“But in the end, we win and that’s the most important thing. Nine points and seven goals so I cannot complain.

“It’s about winning games and that’s what we did– nine points from three games is a great start.”

Haaland says he is benefitting from a summer break and feels refreshed going into the new campaign following City’s preseason tour to the United States.

“I’ve had problems [with injuries in the past] but let’s not focus on this, let’s focus on now,” he added.

“I’m feeling good, I’m happy, I’m refreshed, and I had a long vacation, a good pre-season and I’ve started well.

“I’m happy and feeling good – that’s the most important thing.

“Only footballers know exactly how important it is to completely log off your football brain and not train or anything.

“I had a fantastic off-season and I’m ready to hopefully have a good season.”

City record second straight league win with five-star success over Everton

Manchester City’s Elite Development Squad made it back-to-back Premier League 2 wins with a enthralling 5-0 triumph over 10-player Everton.

Having fought back from two-goals down to win 3-2 against Derby heading into the match at the Joie Stadium, we carried strong momentum into the meeting with Toffees.

After an end-to-end opening 35 minutes, we grabbed a commanding lead thanks to strikes from Farid Alfa-Ruprecht and Max Alleyne before the visitors were reduced to 10 players when Charlie Whittaker received two cautions.

Second-half goals from Alfa-Ruprecht and Justin Oboavwoduo (two) added the gloss to a fine afternoon for Ben Wilkinson’s side as we made our numerical advantage count.

WHAT HAPPENED

A crackle of thunder was heard at the Joie Stadium ahead of proceedings and it was the visitors who made a lightning quick start in our latest Premier League 2 assignment when Omari Benjamin forced Jacob Wright to bravely block the former’s stinging effort from the edge of the area.

The Toffees were one of the division’s fast starters after collecting four points from their opening two games and the trickery of Benjamin and Isaac Heath, their top scorer, caused City problems during the early exchanges but our defence did well to nullify the threat.

After weathering an early storm, we grew into proceedings and almost broke the deadlock when Will Dickson’s relentless pressing regained possession, before he teed up Emilio Lawrence whose low drive cannoned off George Pickford’s feet.

That seemed to spark Ben Wilkinson’s side into life and we were in ascendency when the clocked ticked past 20 minutes and Seb Naylor produced a fantastic recovery tackle in the centre of the pitch to prevent Heath from progressing before Farid Alfa-Ruprecht’s fizzed ball across the face of Everton’s goal was placed just wide by a stretching Lawrence.

But Everton still showed they packed quality aplenty soon after when Benjamin met a pinpoint cross, sending the ball just wide of the post from close range.

The match continued to be played at a breathless pace and Dickson, who was starting his first PL2 match of the season, forced Pickford into a fine fingertip save down to his left when the former did well to direct a cut-back towards the corner of the net.

Perhaps it was no surprise the first goal of the afternoon arrived shortly after when – broke the deadlock for the hosts – collecting a wonderful Wright pass from deep to drive into the box and fire low into the net.

Buoyed by the opener, we then pushed for a second and found it on the cusp of half-time when an accurate corner was met by at the near-post before his glanced header squeezed home at the far corner.

The afternoon then worsened for Everton after Charlie Whitaker was sent off ahead of the interval when he received a second yellow card for perceived simulation inside the box by referee Zac Kennard-Kettle after going down under a challenge by

With the Toffees at a numerical disadvantage heading into the second half, they opted to deploy five players in defence after the break to soak up City pressure and look to break on the counter-attack.

However, it wasn’t long until we extended our advantage further thanks to Alfa-Ruprecht’s second of the afternoon when he met a ball that flashed across the face of goal to coolly poke into an empty net.

After was introduced at half-time through the middle, the skilful forward repaid Wilkinson’s faith with 25 minutes remaining when he received the ball inside the area before calmly sliding past Pickford to extend our lead.

He then grabbed his brace with 13 minutes remaining when taking advantage of Everton miscommunication in defence to win the ball and pass into the net.

That represented the last goal of the afternoon with Jayden Heskey’s effort being cleared off the line in the closing stages.

The success was undoubtedly our EDS’ most complete performance of the term so far as we extinguished the opening day defeat disappointment to Liverpool with our second straight PL2 win.

HOW WE LINED-UP

CITY XI: Brits, Henderson-Hall (Gray 69’) Alleyne, Simpson-Pusey, Naylor, Wright (Okeke 69’), Alfa-Ruprecht, Heskey, Dickson (Oboavwoduo 46’), O’Reilly (C) (Willhoft-King 81’), Lawrence

Unused substitute: Wint.

Everton XI: Pickford, Dixon, Butler (Samuels-Smith 81’), Baptiste, Welch, Butterfield (Patterson 68’), Heath, Armstrong, Sheriff (Bates46’), Whitaker, Benjamin (Barker 81’).

Unused substitute: Barnsley.