Manchester City moved back into the top four of the Premier League with an impressive 3-1 win over Chelsea at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday.
Pep Guardiola’s side issued the perfect response to the demoralising Champions League defeat to Paris Saint-Germain to come from behind against Chelsea thanks to goals from Josko Gvardiol, Erling Haaland and Phil Foden.
City handed debuts to winter transfer signings Abdukodir Khusanov and Omar Marmoush from the start — and Khusanov endured a nightmare debut, gifting Chelsea the opening goal inside three minutes. The £33.6 million signing from RC Lens missed a bouncing ball and then saw his weak header back to Éderson incepted by Nicola Jackson, who squared for Noni Madueke to tap into an empty net.
Gvardiol had two good chances to equalise before taking his third opportunity just before halftime. Matheus Nunes latched onto Ilkay Gündogan’s ball over the top and with goalkeeper Robert Sánchez rushing out to meet him, the ball fell into Gvardiol’s path to score with a simple finish.
City were the better team in the second half and eventually got a second goal through Erling Haaland. Ederson’s long ball forward was flicked on by the Norwegian, who chased it down and wrestled off Trevoh Chalobah. With Sanchez stuck in no-man’s land, Haaland lifted his finish over the Chelsea goalkeeper and into the net for his 18th league goal of the season.
Phil Foden wrapped up the result in the closing stages, collecting Haaland’s clever pass to run through from the halfway line to score his sixth goal in his last six games.
Man City’s rise and Chelsea’s fall marks a shift in title race
Manchester City’s comeback win — staggeringly, only their sixth victory in 20 games across all competitions — was enough to put Guardiola’s side back in the top four and may signal a turning point in what has been a shockingly bad season thus far.
With UEFA’s co-efficient system looking likely to award a Champions League spot to fifth place, City are suddenly right back in contention having now gone unbeaten in the league for a month. Coming just three days after their capitulation to Paris Saint-Germain, City’s league position will offer a degree of comfort to Guardiola, particularly given he threw in two debutants here and watched his team fall behind.
Chelsea, by contrast, end Saturday in sixth place — a remarkable fall from grace, which fully extinguishes any talk of Enzo Maresca’s side being part of the title race.
They have now won one game in seven and their gameplan was undone in troubling fashion. The high defensive line, which initially caused City problems, ended up being badly exposed as Madueke allowed Gvardiol to run in behind one too many times to equalise. Haaland and Foden later also beat Chelsea’s offside trap too easily to find the scoresheet.
In truth, the Blues’ response after falling behind was almost non-existent — an attitude made all the more surprising given this result could represent an important swing in the race for Europe. — James Olley
Chelsea’s wait for a statement win drags on
One curious quirk of Chelsea’s season is that they have taken more points on the road (21) than at home (19) — yet they are without a statement away win under Maresca, who took over the club this season.
They were beaten at Liverpool in October — somewhat unfortunately — before losing at Newcastle in the EFL Cup and drawing at Manchester United. December’s 4-3 victory at Tottenham was arguably their most significant success outside of Stamford Bridge given they came from 2-0 down and they had City on the back foot early on, seemingly ready to capitalise on their current fragility. And yet the opportunity slipped through their grasp.
They were curiously passive after the opening half-an-hour or so, allowing City to recover their poise and turn the game around.
Something needs to change soon for Maresca. Chelsea’s next four away games are at Brighton twice — once in the FA Cup fourth round — Aston Villa and then Arsenal. Their self-belief drained away to a troubling extent and more resistance is needed to ensure their season does not unravel further. — Olley
Rough start for Man City’s January signing Khusanov
Man City’s comeback win may render it more of a footnote, but it was a disastrous start for Khusanov. Thrown straight into the centre of defence after just three training sessions with his new teammates, the 20-year-old was all over the place in the opening five minutes.
With only his third touch, he sold Ederson short with a routine header back and allowed Jackson to set up Madueke. Immediately afterwards he misplaced a pass into midfield and was booked for hacking down Cole Palmer as he tried to make amends. There were points during the opening exchanges when it looked like his teammates were reluctant to give him the ball. He eventually settled himself down with a couple of simple passes — each of which were enthusiastically cheered by the City fans in an attempt to make the youngster feel better.
Guardiola will not have wanted to chuck Khusanov in at the deep end after just 18 months in Belarus and 31 appearances for RC Lens, but he will feel that he had no choice. Rúben Dias and Nathan Aké are both injured and John Stones, who was on the bench but not fully fit, is needed against Club Brugge next week in the Champions League, a competition Khusanov is not eligible to play in.
Khusanov was eventually replaced by Stones after just 53 minutes. He got a word of encouragement from Stones on his way off and a hug and a pat on the back from Guardiola. — Rob Dawson
Marmoush looks poised to boost Man City
The game will be remembered for Khusanov’s debut rather than Marmoush’s, but the £63m signing from Eintracht Frankfurt looked sharp.
He had a goal ruled out in the first half when Gundogan’s shot came back off Sanchez. He should have left the finish to Bernardo Silva, who was onside, but he can’t be criticised too heavily for his desperation to score. It was the same in the second half when he opted to shoot instead of sending Foden clear through and got an earful from the England midfielder.
Playing on the left of a front three is probably not his favourite position, but he still did enough to show that he can add something to this City team. He was confident enough to take on Reece James and was constantly looking to stretch Chelsea’s defence with runs in behind.
With Haaland a certain starter and Kevin De Bruyne and Foden first-choice to play in the attacking midfield positions, it might take a while for Marmoush to find out where he fits in. But on his debut he looked quick, skilful and hungry for goals which can only be good news for Guardiola.
After being substituted in the second-half, the cameras caught Marmoush chatting to Jack Grealish and wearing a big smile. He certainly enjoyed himself more than Khusanov. — Dawson
Pressure mounts on goalkeeper Sanchez
Haaland took his winning goal brilliantly but the opportunity was made far easier by another moment of indecision from Sanchez in goal.
Although Haaland looked like he had the beating of Chalobah as he chased his own flick-on, the Norwegian striker was still a long way from goal when Sanchez inexplicably decided to rush off his line. Quickly realising he would never make up the ground to Haaland, he checked back and left himself stranded off his goal-line as City’s No. 9 cut back on his left foot and lifted a fine finish into the net.
It is the second bad error in a week after a mistake against Wolves and places Sanchez under further scrutiny, especially in the context of Maresca’s pre-match comments where he said the 27-year-old was “getting better, but still far, far, far from where I want him to be.”
Maresca also refused to confirm whether Sanchez would be his No. 1 next season. With summer signing Filip Jorgensen impressing in the Conference League, there is now a growing debate about whether Sanchez should be in goal next week. — Olley
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