Key events
It’s been a bad week for City, who have lost four points in two games and now sit six points behind Arsenal.
Full time: Man City 1-1 Chelsea
Chelsea may not have a manager butt here’s nothing wrong with their spirit. They were terrific in the second half, after Callum McFarlane switched to a back three, and deserved Enzo Fernandez’s injury-time equaliser.
Tijjani Reijnders blasted City in front in the first half, when they were much the better side, but they were too passive after the break and it cost them two points.
90+7 min Chelsea fancy a bit more. Fernandez moves into the area before mishitting a shot that is easily saved by Donnarumma.
90+6 min Fernandez was booked after the goal, presumably for his celebration.
90+5 min There’s a VAR check for offside on the goal. But it stands and Chelsea are level!
Gusto skipped away from O’Reilly on the right and curled a brilliant low cross into the corridor of uncertainty. It took a slight touch off Ake, stretching towards his own goal, and reached Fernandez at the far post. His close-range shot was brilliantly saved by Donnarumma but Fernandez forced the rebound into the net from a couple of yards.
GOAL! Man City 1-1 Chelsea (Enzo Fernandez 90+4)
A devastating blow to City’s title challenge!
90 min Six minutes of added time.
89 min Hato screws a low cross from the left towards Palmer. He barely connects with an attempted right-foot shot and the ball runs towrds Delap, whose shot has the sting taken off it by Ake. That was half a chance.
87 min City have kept Chelsea at arm’s length for the last few minutes. In fact, in terms of defensive control they’re probably having their best spell of the second half. But at 1-0 it’s never safe, not ever.
84 min These are nervous times for City, who know that a Chelsea equaliser would love them six points behind Arsenal.
81 min: City substitution Nathan Ake comes on for Ruben Dias, who presumably has an injury problem.
79 min Nunes is also booked, presumably for putting hands on Delap.
79 min Palmer plays a good pass down the inside-right channel. Khusanov holds him off, a fine piece of defending, so Delap shoves Khusanov off the field and into the advertising boards. The City players aren’t happy and there’s a bit of argy-bargy near the touchline. Delap is booked.
75 min City aren’t having much of the ball by their standards but they do at least look dangerous on the break. Doku plays a superb long pass down the left to release Foden; he tries to square it to Haaland but the ball is cut out.
72 min Chelsea continue to threaten. Fernandez feeds a sharp pass into Delap, who rolls Khusanov splendidly and whacks shot from the angle that takes a slight deflection off Khusanov and is blocked at the near post by Donnarumma.
70 min: City substitution Jeremy Doku comes on for the goalscorer Tijjani Reijnders.
69 min Cherki charges down the inside-right channel, onto an adroit chested pass from Haaland. He gets into the area and tries to tee up Bernardo Silva, who is considering a shot when a Chelsea defender slides in to make an important challenge.
67 min Neto has a shot blocked after another menacing break from Chelsea. They have been so much better since switching to a back three.
62 min: City substitutions Liam Delap, once of City, and Jorrel Hato replace Joao Pedro and the impressive teenager Josh Acheampong.
60 min Yes, it was excellent defending from James. I don’t think Cherki dived, though; it was a natural fall after he made contact with James.
59 min City have a big penalty appeal turned down when Cherki goes over after a challenge from James. Cherki was trying to set himself up for a shot after receiving a pass from Reijnders; it looked like James did well to get between the man and the ball, at which point Cherki decided to try his luck. But we haven’t seen a replay yet.
58 min A frankly chilling 50-yard run from Haaland – think Jonah Lomu v England in 1995 – ends with a low shot from 15 yards that is excellently blocked by Badiashile.
54 min Now Ruben Dias is booked for a foul on Joao Pedro.
53 min James follows through onto Rodri’s foot and is booked. I suspect it’s more for cumulative offending than that particular foul.
51 min: City substitution Actually it might be an ankle injury that Gvardiol has suffered; he seemed to roll it while making a challenge on a Chelsea player. He’s helped off the field by a City physio and Reece James. Abdukodir Khusanov replaces him.
50 min Yes, Gvardiol’a race is run – he has some kind of muscle problem. Don’t we all.
49 min: Great chance for Neto!
Chelsea should be level. Palmer leads a four-on-three break, with Gvardiol down and probably out of the game, and finds Enzo Fernandez on the left side of the area. He holds off Nunes with a Zidane-style roulette and tees up Neto, who lifts over the bar from 10 yards. Glorious chance.
47 min JOao Pedro releases Neto on the left side of the area. He isn’t sure whether to shoot – the angle is very tight – or try to pick somebody out. Eventually he does the latter and the ball deflect into the hands of Donnarumma.
Yeah, Chelsea are playing with Gusto and Neto as wing-backs in a 3-4-2-1 system. Palmer and Enzo Fernandez are the No10s.
46 min Peep peep! In fact it looks like Chelsea might have switched to a back three.
Half-time substitution Chelsea are bringing on Andrey Santos for Estevao to stiffen their midfield. Cole Palmer will move to the right wing.
“That Reijnders goal was like a diet version of Kvaratskhelia against Villa in last season’s Champions League quarters,” writes Tanay Padhi. “Lovely rollover and then hammered it with the left.”
That’s a great spot!
Half-time reading
Source From: Premier League | The Guardian
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