Manchester City had to come-back from a goal down to win the match 3-1 against Chelsea at the Etihad Stadium.
Pep Guardiola handed both Omar Marmoush and Abdukodir Khusanov their City debuts. Newcomer Abdukodir Khusanov found himself in a terrible moment as he was at fault for the Blues’ third-minute opener. The 20-year-old defender had a horrible start to life at City as well as a hard way to learn from a difficult debut against Chelsea, in an important match.
The first half kicked of at a very high speed and Chelsea took a third-minute lead through Madueke. City’s Khusanov attempted to cushion a header back to Ederson. The ball fell short and Nicolas Jackson intercepted it before teeing up the advancing Noni Madueke who converted it into the goal. Two minutes after, Cole Palmer could have doubled the Chelsea lead as he broke through the home defensive ranks but rather than shooting, the ex-Academy graduate opted to square the ball to Nicolas Jackson instead. The ball was held up and though Jackson found the waiting Jadon Sancho, Khusanov was there to block the shot.
Marmoush then had the ball in the Chelsea net on 35 minutes to momentarily lift the roof off the Etihad after he pounced onto a Sanchez fumble from Gundogan’s shot – but sadly the referee called back for offside. One felt a goal had to come and it finally arrived on the 42nd minute through that man Gvardiol. Gundogan engineered the move as the Portuguese ran in on goal and though Sanchez blocked the initial shot, the rebound fell to the advancing Gvardiol who made no mistake to deservedly level affairs.
City though didn’t have to wait long to power ahead – and it was that man Haaland who answered the call just two minutes later in quite a spectacular fashion. Sanchez mistakenly chose to race out of his line only to be caught in no man’s land, with Haaland needing no second invitation to superbly chip home his 18th league goal of the season. A fine afternoon’s work was then rounded off three minutes from time when Foden escaped the Chelsea shackles and raced clear before dispatching a fine finish past Sanchez.
” Not the best start. Lucky they didn’t punish us for 2-0. After we recovered emotionally and performed well,We had more of the ball than the last games. It was really important.The players were together. That was massively important. Any player can make a mistake. The fans always support the new players. He’s so young. He will learn. Now we’re closer to Nottingham but Bournemouth are on an impressive run.” Pep Guardiola
The victory moves Manchester City back up into fourth place in the table. They are level with Newcastle on 41 points but have a better goal difference. Chelsea on the other hand drop to sixth on 40 points.
City will be back in action at the Etihad next Wednesday for a huge Champions League clash against Club Brugge.
