MANCHESTER: A new-look Manchester City. Same old Erling Haaland.

The Norway striker scored his third goal of the season as City extended their 100% start by beating Coventry 1-0 to stay at the top of the Premier League on Saturday.

City have spent more than $600 million revamping their squad under new manager Enzo Maresca, but Haaland remains their prize asset.

His 26th-minute header at the Etihad Stadium provided the decisive moment against newly promoted Coventry and maintained Maresca’s perfect start since taking on the daunting task of following in Pep Guardiola’s footsteps.

Maresca’s job will be made a lot easier if Haaland can maintain his scoring form, with the forward scoring for the third time in two games.

“It’s an important win, different from the first two. They have all been different,” Maresca said. “I’m very happy. I know the players day-by-day, we know each other. It means we will get better and better.”

City’s lavish spending in the post-Guardiola era carried on right up until deadline day with the signings of Enzo Fernandez and Iliman Ndiaye. Both started against Coventry.

“(We) started with a win, so it couldn’t get any better,” Ndiaye said.

City are three points clear of defending champion Arsenal, which play Chelsea on Sunday.

Hull hosted Aston Villa in the late game Saturday and had the chance to move level on points with a win.

Tottenham picked up their first point of the season with a 0-0 draw at Nottingham Forest. Crystal Palace twice came back against Fulham to eventually win 3-2 at Craven Cottage for their first points of the campaign while Brighton drew 1-1 with Leeds.

Brentford and Sunderland also drew 1-1.

Spurs get off the mark

Big spending Tottenham got their first point of the season, but they are still without a league goal despite revamping their attack in the transfer window.

Summer signings Omar Marmoush and Savio were both blunted at the City Ground, while on-loan Mykhailo Mudryk also failed to find a breakthrough after coming on to make his debut.

“The problem is the last third, not because we have not the quality. We have great players,” said Spurs coach Roberto De Zerbi. “We have to be better in the last decision, to keep calm when we are in the last third and take the best decision.”

Forest thought they had found the winner through Neco Williams, but the goal was ruled out by VAR because of a handball.

Fulham’s struggles go on

It’s been a difficult start for new Fulham coach Alvaro Arbeloa after three straight league losses.

The former Real Madrid coach might have thought he was set for a first win after his team led 1-0 through Josh King and then 2-1 through Cesar Palacios.

Palace had other ideas, with Tyrick Mitchell twice equalizing and Ben Chilwell scoring the winner in the 77th.

Sunderland secured a late draw at Brentford through Enzo Le Fee’s penalty in the 82nd. Leeds were looking for a third straight win and led Brighton 1-0 thanks to Jayden Bogle until Luka Vuskovic leveled in the 71st.