After a summer bursting with unexpected plot lines, a familiar story. As a host of intriguing new characters are added to the cast list, the main man reasserted his dominance. As the Premier League returned, so did Erling Haaland. Perhaps it was the most crushingly predictable start to a season imaginable. For now, Manchester City are top of the table and Haaland is the top scorer. Fast forward nine months and each statement may remain true. There was, though, something devastatingly awesome amid the sense of the normal. Haaland’s defence of his Golden Boot began within 185 seconds of the opening whistle. He is a fine first-time finisher, but this was a different kind of first touch: his first of the top-flight campaign entered the Burnley net. His second goal arrived before half-time, too, a goal with a devastating blend of power and accuracy. None of which spared him an animated tongue-lashing from Pep Guardiola as they made their way off at half-time but, along with a Rodri goal, it proved too much for Burnley. Champions of the Championship lost to champions of the Premier League and, indeed, Europe. None of which may surprise Vincent Kompany – a man with a statue outside the Etihad Stadium was a regular visitor to the ground last season – or the Turf Moor faithful. There are one-sided rivalries and then there is Burnley against City: Guardiola’s 12th consecutive win against the Clarets took the aggregate score in that time to 43-1. Each has an added dimension: it was Burnley, but not as the Premier League last knew them, with the passing principles Kompany has borrowed from Guardiola, but undone by the Haaland factor. City effected a swift transition from a team who excelled at sharing the goals around to one who were comfortable relying on one potent individual. They were not at their superlative best at Turf Moor: but with a finisher of Haaland’s calibre they did not need to be. His debut campaign in England yielded 52 goals, the best by a top-flight player for almost a century, and 36 in the Premier League, a divisional record. It was exceptional, but perhaps not a one-off. Normal service was soon resumed: Haaland may deem a quiet Community Shield as a lucky omen, given he has now started successive Premier League campaigns with a brace. Turf Moor, even refurbished to add some hints of gleaming modernity, can prove an unpleasant place to visit and a missile was thrown at Rico Lewis, leading to a fan being removed by police, while the substitute Anass Zaroury got an injury-time red card for an ugly lunge at Kyle Walker. Yet its intimidatory powers were diminished when Haaland swept City into an early lead. Kompany started with three centre-backs and Burnley conceded after three minutes. The Norwegian’s longest goal drought in a City shirt had spanned six games in four competitions, three of them finals. It was ended so swiftly and calmly to suggest he had not spent the summer fretting about a rare barren spell. Kevin De Bruyne crossed, Rodri headed the ball back across the box and Haaland slotted in a low shot. It was a reminder that his greatest asset may not be height or pace, even though they give him a physical advantage over most opponents, but the uncanny ability to get the ball in a crowded box. He is, too, much more than just a poacher, as his second goal showed. A left-foot curler, whipped with power, in off the underside of the bar, after Julian Alvarez found him was the sort of goal De Bruyne might have scored, albeit with his other foot. But the City captain had departed by then: much like in his previous start, the Champions League final, the Belgian limped off in the first half. He may miss the European Super Cup but his departure had a more immediate impact, with Guardiola bringing on Mateo Kovacic and shuffling Bernardo Silva, Phil Foden and Alvarez around to restore a little control during Burnley’s best spell of the game. They were muted thereafter, conceding a third when Rodri lashed in after Burnley failed to clear Silva’s free kick. But there had been an enterprising element to Kompany’s team. The Swiss striker Mohamed Zeki Amdouni was a livewire on his debut, indicating he has the verve to trouble plenty of teams. He tested Ederson with one shot, but it remained Burnley’s lone shot on target. It helped that City could bolster its defence with the £77m signing Josko Gvardiol, whose late bow came as a substitute left-back. A previous City defender, Kompany, had shown his boldness. He selected six summer signings in his starting 11, picking a team with an average age of just 23 years and 306 days. It was the youngest Burnley have named in the Premier League and featured a lone survivor, Connor Roberts, from their last game at this level. They have been reinvented during their exile in the Championship. It coincided with Haaland’s arrival and, if he never had the air of a one-season wonder, Burnley got unwanted evidence his second year at City could be just as productive as his first. Read More The Premier League is having an identity crisis – but one thing can save it Pep Guardiola expects Man City’s standards ‘to drop’ this season Premier League 2023/24 predictions: Champions, top four, relegation, best signing, top scorer and more Kevin De Bruyne faces ‘few weeks out’ after suffering another hamstring injury ‘Not my decision’ whether I get time to transform Chelsea – Mauricio Pochettino Erling Haaland at the double as Manchester City kick off new campaign in style

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Mastercard says it is helping banks to stop payment scams in their tracks, before funds leave a victim’s account. The payments provider said that in partnership with UK banks including Lloyds Bank, Halifax, Bank of Scotland, NatWest, Monzo and TSB, it is using payments data to help identify payment scams. Mastercard’s new tool helps banks to get an instant rating that shows the risk of a payment being made to a fraudulent account. This is based on factors such as account activity and the relationship between the payer and payee. Ajay Bhalla, president of cyber and intelligence at Mastercard, said: “We are helping banks identify and predict which payments are being made to fraudsters and stop them in real-time.” Spotting fraudulent payments among millions made every day is like finding a needle in a haystack Paul Davis, TSB Over four months, TSB said that Mastercard’s tool has increased its fraud detection. Paul Davis, director of fraud prevention at TSB, said: “Spotting fraudulent payments among millions made every day is like finding a needle in a haystack, with scams becoming ever more complex – so prevention and monitoring tools are key. “Our partnership with Mastercard is providing the intelligence needed to identify fraudulent accounts and prevent payments ever reaching them.” The Financial Ombudsman Service recently said it is seeing a higher proportion of complex scam complaints, with some involving investments or cryptocurrency. It is seeing increasing numbers of complaints which contain the features of more than one scam. For example, someone may be duped by a romance scammer who then persuades them to invest in cryptocurrency schemes which do not exist. Or someone may attempt to pay for goods which do not exist and then receive a phone call from a scammer impersonating their bank who persuades them to make multiple payments by claiming their payment attempts have been unsuccessful. Many banks are currently signed up to a voluntary reimbursement code in cases where blameless scam victims transfer money to a fraudster, but there have been concerns about this not always being applied consistently. TSB has its own fraud refund guarantee. Plans are under way to make reimbursement mandatory. The Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) has said new rules compelling banks to reimburse scam victims who have been tricked into paying fraudsters will come into force next year. Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Art historian helps build new Assassin’s Creed game after son’s suggestion Twitter to stop TweetDeck access for unverified users Broadband customers plagued by issues despite inflation-busting price hikes

A federal court jury in Oxford, Mississippi, has ruled against a civil lawsuit filed by the widow of a man who was shot dead in 2017 by two police officers, while serving a warrant at the wrong address. Claudia Linares was seeking $20m in compensation for the death of her husband Ismael Lopez, 41. During the four-day trial that concluded on Thursday 15 September, the jury ruled that Southaven officers, Zachary Durden and Samuel Maze, did not violate Lopez’s civil rights. “The verdict was that the jurors did not believe that the use of force used by Officers Durden and Maze was excessive in light of all the facts that they considered,” Murray Wells, the attorney for Lopez’s family, said in a statement to WREG-TV. The case had previously attracted attention because the city tried to argue that Lopez did not have any civil rights as he was living illegally in the US and was facing deportation and criminal charges for the illegal possession of firearms. However, in 2020, a judge rejected the city’s claim, and ruled that constitutional rights apply to “all persons.” The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation reported that on 14 July 2017, Lopez and his wife were in bed when officers knocked on their door with the intention of serving a domestic violence warrant to a person who actually lived across the street. According to Mr Durden and Mr Maze, the pair did not identify themselves, and when the door opened, Lopez’s dog ran out and he pointed a rifle through the door. Officer Maze then shot the dog and Mr Durden fired multiple bullets at Lopez. He died after a bullet hit the back of his skull when he was six feet from his front door. Police have claimed he was running away from law enforcement, and a third office later told investigators that Mr Durden had ordered Lopez to drop his rifle several times before shooting him. Lopez’s lawyers stated in their argument that his fingerprints and DNA were not found on the rifle supposedly used to fire at Mr Durden, but believe the officer shot him in reaction to his colleague shooting the dog. They also called upon evidence that state investigators found his body lying in a prone position with his hands cuffed behind his back. There is no video footage to corroborate either claim. “Those officers used tactical maneuvers to hide themselves as police officers,” Mr Wells told WREG. “There are a couple of huge factors at play. One was this unbelievable mistake of going to the wrong address and we felt it was just incompetent because they didn’t even take the time to look at the boxes. They went to the wrong side of the road, so that started this. They never announced that they were police and at the end of the day Ismael Lopez was shot through a door, in the back of the head,” he said. Darren Musselwhite, mayor of Southhaven, praised the jury’s decision: “This verdict proves what we’ve believed to be correct since day one as our officers responded appropriately considering the circumstance of being threatened with deadly force,” he said. “We’ve stood behind them during the last six years for this very reason and, for their sake, are glad this trial is over.” Read More Police officer who fatally shot motorist charged with murder Philadelphia officer to be fired over shooting death of Black man as new video contradicts police account A Utah man was killed during a police traffic stop. His family say they’ve been ‘stonewalled’ by authorities

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