After scoring on 68 minutes, Erling Haaland’s expression was pure box office – and who could blame him? Manchester City had hit the front, Chelsea were cowed, and relief mainlined through Pep Guardiola.
The ruthless striker’s 18th Premier League goal of the season was a sweet lofted effort fashioned over a backpedalling, out-of-position Robert Sánchez in the Chelsea goal: Haaland watched the ball kiss the net, then offered a comical what-else-do-you-expect face to the jubilant congregation.
The No 9, whose finish came from an Ederson kick from goal, said: “It is something we practise. We try to focus on giving space and Ederson has given me a lot of assists already. It is about perfect timing because he is so precise.”
It sealed three welcome points following the 4-2 midweek capitulation at Paris Saint-Germain and the poorest of openings here from City’s new £33.8m defender, Abdukodir Khusanov. In these strange times, Phil Foden’s late clincher was a fillip. But who knows how City will perform when requiring a result against Club Brugge to stay in Europe on Wednesday.
Khusanov’s nightmare took only three minutes to develop. First, he misjudged a leap and headed air, not ball. This caused him to flap when bidding to recover and a back-header to Ederson was far too short. In nipped Nicolas Jackson whose deft outside-of-the-boot flick was easy to slide home for Noni Madueke.
The 20-year-old from Tashkent looked shellshocked, close to tears. Guardiola had head in hands, wondering if throwing him straight in was folly. The verdict would have been “definitely” if Cole Palmer had scored moments later from a free-kick Khusanov had given away for chopping down the Chelsea forward.
Khusanov, who had been forced into the foul after handing the former City player the ball, was booked by John Brooks – Guardiola, again, held his head – and manager and player sighed with relief when Palmer spooned the set piece over.
Can a debut start any worse for a player bought to help mend a team’s defensive ills? After Madueke’s strike far better was Khusanov’s next act that blocked a point-blank Jadon Sancho effort following yet another Chelsea foray. At the other end Omar Marmoush was enjoying a less torrid time. Twice he made sharp breaks, though twice he was offside.
The Egyptian left Eintracht Frankfurt as the Bundesliga’s second-highest scorer. When Josko Gvardiol shimmied on to his right foot a dash of Marmoush’s scoring prowess would have been a boon as he blasted over Sánchez’s goal.
Chelsea had arrived with only one victory – last week’s win over Wolves – in their previous six league games but were padding about the turf and pinging the ball around as if all had been triumphs. That was until, suddenly, Sánchez steered an Ilkay Gündogan shot into the feet of Marmoush who finished but was ruled – yet again – offside.
Now, at last, City took control. And with Guardiola demanding a forward ball, Mateo Kovacic chipped to Gvardiol whose chested-control took the left-back clear. His flick went narrowly wide but he soon had the equaliser.
This time Gündogan played a front-to-back pass to Matheus Nunes who ran through the middle. When the ball squeezed left, after Marc Cucurella and Sánchez closed down City’s right-back, the marauding Gvardiol scored.
Guardiola, who resisted replacing Khusanov at half-time, saw more sloppiness when Gvardiol’s ball was too short for Gündogan in City’s defensive third. Chelsea failed to profit as they did moments later when Palmer was handed possession. But here were the type of sluggish mistakes that have cost the champions in their slump.
It must have been contagious as next Levi Colwill missed Gündogan’s flighted 30-yard pass and Haaland was galloping in. The striker has a crafty move that features a drag of the ball onto his left and a pull of the trigger faster than seems possible. But Sánchez saved and Chelsea escaped.
Khusanov’s debut-to-forget was over after 54 minutes and on jogged John Stones to replace the centre-back. The new signing will have far better days so the best to say is that he did not see red after a very early yellow card.
Gradually, City exerted control. Chelsea were pushed back into an unwanted game of their defence against their hosts’ attack. Now came Haaland’s moment. Trevoh Chalobah struggled under Ederson’s punt and the Norwegian took over. Sánchez, puzzlingly, had advanced, so Haaland lobbed him. Then drank up the acclaim.
“He knows he has to do better,” said Chelsea’s head coach, Enzo Maresca, of Sánchez’s misjudgment.
Late on came Foden’s sixth goal in six games, the assist Haaland’s, the killer finish the playmaker’s after dashing through.
