Manchester City 3, Chelsea 1
Goals by Josko Gvardiol, Erling Haaland, and Phil Foden helped Manchester City beat Chelsea to see them to go fourth.
Abdukodir Khusanov and Omar Marmoush had memorable debuts for City after being named in City’s injury-hit side with Club Brugge coming on Wednesday.
A mistake by Khusanov after just three minutes allowed Chelsea to open the scoring through Noni Madueke.
But despite the setback City regrouped and took control of the game after a shaky opening quarter of the game.
City hit the post through Phil Foden and had an Omar Marmoush goal ruled out for offside before Josko Gvardiol tapped in the equaliser shortly before half time after Matheus Nunes ran onto a long pass from Ilkay Gundogan and saw initial shot blocked by Robert Sanchez.
But with both sides error prone on the ball, it was a case of holding nerve. John Stones replaced the Uzbek debutant shortly after the break.
Erling Haaland ran onto a big clearance by Ederson, held off Trevoh Chalobah, sat him down by cutting inside, spotted Robert Sanchez off his line and chipped him to put City into the lead.
And three minutes from the end Phil Foden got his deserved goal after a solo run from the centre circle following Haaland’s layoff after the Norwegian got a flick on from Kevin De Bruyne deep in City’s midfield – again following a long pass up from Ederson.
PLAYER RATINGS – Manchester City 3, Chelsea 1
Ederson: 7. Saved a deflected Cole Palmer shot. Massive kick up to Erling Haaland to help give City the lead.
Matheus Nunes: 7. Was often targeted by Chelsea along with but kept going and created the equaliser.
Abdukodir Khusanov: 5. Targeted by Chelsea, poor back header responsible for Noni Madueke goal, then booked for flying in on Cole Palmer after giving the ball away before he blocked a Jadon Sancho shot. Looked more composed and put in some good recovery runs and a tackle on Nicolas Jackson after City calmed the game down.
Manuel Akanji: 7. Held the defence together well.
Josko Gvardiol: 8. Seems to be back to his best again. Defensively ok with Manuel Akanji next to him. Couple of good balls into the box and a close range shot from acute angle which went over. Fired just wide in the first half before tapping a goal in.
Mateo Kovacic: 6. Too casual defensively once again, giving up chances.
Ilkay Gundogan: 6. Long range passing started the move that ended with the equaliser. Doesn’t really have the legs for Premier League games now.
Bernardo Silva: 6. Dropped a bit deeper to help out Abdukodir Khusanov after his poor start and try and plug holes.
Omar Marmoush: 6. Great shooting showed plenty of hunger for goals but needs to work on offside with his team mates and had a 35th minute goal ruled out after poaching a spilled save off an Ilkay Gundogan shot. Went very close in the second half with a swerving shot and did well to against the Chelsea close marking.
Phil Foden:: 8. Worked hard in this game. Hit the woodwork with early shot. Miscontrolled a cross from the left and headed over. Was perfectly placed to hit the equaliser after 35 minutes but Omar Marmoush stole the shot and was flagged offside instead. Got his deserved goal after a solo run from midfield following a layoff by Erling Haaland.
Erling Haaland: 8. Almost profited off an error by Levi Colwill who doubled up with Marc Cucurella at times. Set up Omar Marmoush for a great second half chance, before he was gifted a chance to chip Robert Sanchez who was off his line for no reason – great goal. Layoff set up Phil Foden for his goal.
John Stones (on for Abdukodir Khusanov, 54): 6. Came on and floated all over the pitch. Perhaps a preview for Wednesday?
Kevin De Bruyne (on for Omar Marmoush, 74): 6. His flick on started the move that ended with City’s third goal.
GOALS – Manchester City 3, Chelsea 1
Man City 0, Chelsea 1: 3. Abdukodir Khusanov back header towards Ederson was too short and Nicolas Jackson pounced – squared the ball to Noni Madueke who had a tap in to the empty net.
Man City 1, Chelsea 1: 42. Josko Gvardiol had a tap in to the empty net after Matheus Nunes shrugged off Marc Cucurella to get on the end of an Ilkay Gundogan ball up from defence. Nunes’ shot was blocked by Robert Sanchez but the loose ball broke to the Croat who equalised.
Man City 2, Chelsea 1: 68. Erling Haaland ran onto a through ball, held off Trevoh Chalobah, sat him down by cutting inside, spotted Robert Sanchez off his line and chipped him.
Man City 3, Chelsea 1: 87. Phil Foden got a deserved goal after a solo run from the centre circle following Erling Haaland’s layoff after the Norwegian got a flick on from Kevin De Bruyne deep in City’s midfield.
MATCH STATS – Manchester City 3, Chelsea 1
Man City: Ederson, Nunes, Khusanov (Stones 54), Akanji, Gvardiol, Kovacic, Gundogan, Silva (C), Marmoush (De Bruyne 74), Foden, Haaland
Man City Subs not used: Ortega, Grealish, Reis, Savinho, O’Reilly, Lewis, McAtee
Booked: Khusanov (foul on Cole Palmer); Silva 79 (foul on Enzo Fernandez); Kovacic 83 (foukl on Cole Palmer)
Goals: Gvardiol 42; Haaland 68; Foden 87
Chelsea: Sanchez, James (C) (Gusto 73), Chalobah, Colwill, Cucurella, Fernandez, Caicedo, Palmer, Madueke, Sancho (Neto 73), Jackson (Nkunku 61)
Chelsea Subs not used: Jorgensen, Disasi, Acheampong, Adarabioyo, Dewsbury-Hall, Guiu
Booked: Colwill 25 (time wasting); Caicedo 58 (foul on Omar Marmoush)
Goal: Madueke 3
Referee: John Brooks