Beheaded Chelsea steal a point at the Etihad

Days before the derby match with Manchester City, Chelsea were all over national media due to sudden coaching change. Enzo Maresca was relieved of his duties and the Blues were led by U21 head coach Calum McFarlane. Chelsea’s owners still haven’t appointed anyone and the timing of Maresca departure (just before the City game) was not clever either. But in the end, McFarlane’s setup at the Etihad was quite good and the players reacted well. They had some good chances but failed to execute them. Captain Enzo Fernandez was there to score a late equalizer and ‘help’ Arsenal, who are now six points ahead of the Citizens.

And Pep Guardiola’s men? A 1-1 draw cannot be a good result, especially as they are in form and they had a shaken-up team coming to their ground. They took the lead in the 42nd minute and then failed to ‘kill’ the game in time. Erling Haaland has scored 11 goals in eight Premier League home games for Man City this season, netting twice in five different games. He had three real good chances tonight, one of which ended up shaking the post, but he failed to score, and not only that, he wasted some good opportunities just because he tried to finish the action himself.

It was a real slow start for Manchester as Chelsea had two chances within first 20 minutes. Acheampong flicked over Donnarumma towards the goal, but Gvardiol cleared off the line in the fifth minute. City’s defense allowed Estevao to get a shot away from 15 yards, but Gvardiol was there again in the 19th minute. From then on, it was City’s time to attack. Haaland had three good opportunities in ten minutes, including hitting the post, while Silva also had the opportunity the score in the 36th minute, but they all missed. Finally, it was Reijnders who broke the deadlock at the end of the first half.

The second half started just as the first one, but in the end it not only lacked goals, it lacked real chances as well. Chelsea missed a huge opportunity after only four minutes as Enzo did all the hard work and then Neto (of all people) missed a sitter. After that, City had some half-opportunities which were usually started by Haaland, who desperately wanted to score and ended up wasting them all by being selfish. In the end, City just tried to ‘kill’ the game with ball possession, but it failed when it mattered the most – in injury time. Malo Gusto took the ball from O’Riley and passed it into the far corner where Enzo ended up shooting twice. Donnarumma saved it the first time but the rebound came straight back at him and he scored an unexpected equalizer.

PREMIER LEAGUE - MATCHDAY 20

Saturday

Aston Villa - Nott.Forest 3-1 (1-0)

/Watkins 45+1, McGinn 49, 73 - Gibbs-White 61/

Brighton - Burnley 2-0 (1-0)

/Rutter 29, Ayari 47/

Wolverhampton - West Ham 3-0 (3-0)

/Arias 4, Hwang 31 pen, Mane 41/

Bournemouth - Arsenal 2-3 (1-1)

/Evanilson 10, Kroupi 76 - Gabriel 16, Rice 54, 71/

Sunday

Leeds - Manchester United 1-1 (0-0)

/Aaronson 62 - Cunha 65/

Everton - Brentford 2-4 (0-1)

/Beto 66, Barry 90+1 - Thiago 11, 51, 88, Collins 50/

Fulham - Liverpool 1-1 (1-0)

/Wilson 17 - Wirtz 57/

Newcastle - Crystal Palace 2-0 (0-0)

/Guimaraes 71, Thiaw 78/

Tottenham - Sunderland 1-1 (1-0)

/Davies 30 - Brobley 80/

Man.City - Chelsea 1-1 (1-0)

/Reijnders 42 - Fernandez 90+4/