It would have been easy for Pep Guardiola and Manchester City to think that this was a good time to face Chelsea. The London club had crashed in December, their Premier League form awful and the rising tensions between Enzo Maresca and the board would explode on New Year’s Eve.
There have not been many managerial changes on the very first day of a year and this one left Calum McFarlane, the club’s under-21 coach, thrust in as the interim manager. Never before had he taken charge of a single senior game.
McFarlane might not get another if Chelsea can, as they hope, appoint a permanent successor to Maresca before Wednesday’s derby at Fulham. Strasbourg’s Liam Rosenior, their No 1 target, flew to London on Sunday for final talks. But McFarlane can look back with pride and maybe a touch of amazement on his moment in the spotlight as Chelsea held their own with City before stunning them with a stoppage-time Enzo Fernández equaliser.
The first thing to say is that the goal to rock City’s title aspirations and have Guardiola screaming at the heavens was not a bolt from the blue. McFarlane made smart substitutions, the introduction of the former City striker Liam Delap being one, and Chelsea were pushing. Another former City player, Cole Palmer, might have done better with an 89th-minute side-foot; he did not get the contact he wanted and there were nerves among the City support when the board went up to show six additional minutes.
Then it happened. Malo Gusto’s cross from the right took a slight deflection and after Delap could not get there in the middle, Fernández did at the far post. His first shot was a mis-kicked swipe, the second drew a save out of Gianluigi Donnarumma at close quarters and he could not miss with the third.
City will be kicking themselves. Nobody knows better than Guardiola how fine the margins can be in a title race and he was desperate for his team to respond to their draw at Sunderland and, as importantly, Arsenal’s win at Bournemouth on Saturday. The failure to do so left them six points adrift. It is not insurmountable. But it is certainly a problem.
The principal subplot was impossible to ignore because it was the ultimate fiery baptism for McFarlane, the one-time City youth coach. He had tried to downplay the significance of it being him against Guardiola; it was broader than that, he said, a big six showpiece, one of the fixtures of the season. But it was there – master versus rookie. When McFarlane joined Chelsea from Southampton last summer, he could never have envisaged this.
Guardiola started with Tijjani Reijnders on the left of a four-man midfield but he asked him to tuck inside. It was Nico O’Reilly who pushed up the flank from left-back to provide the width. It added up to Guardiola overloading the middle of the pitch. McFarlane’s starting system had Palmer to the right of a central midfield three, although he was invariably the furthest forward of them.
Chelsea dug in at the outset, bringing the hustle, looking to lay down a few physical markers, especially the captain, Reece James, who played in the deep midfield role. He seemed determined to ensure his team did not miss the snarl of the suspended Moisés Caicedo. There was even a chance for Estêvão Willian in the 19th minute after a low pull-back from the left by Pedro Neto. The shot was blocked by Josko Gvardiol.
City moved up through the gears as the interval approached and it was a period that coincided with Rodri flexing his muscles, driving the team forward. Phil Foden had gone close on 20 minutes but it was when Rodri – on his first league start for three months – played forward and Foden flicked on to Erling Haaland that it felt as though City were no longer in the mood to tolerate Chelsea’s resistance.
Haaland’s shot deflected off Trevoh Chalobah and forced Filip Jörgensen, who played in place of the injured Robert Sánchez, into a fine one-handed save. Back came City shortly afterwards. It was Rodri out right to Haaland and when the striker darted inside, his curling shot came back off the inside of the far post.
Chelsea could not get to half-time at 0-0. The pressure from City was too much. Rodri allowed Rayan Cherki to take over the ball in midfield and when he passed forward, the clearance from Benoît Badiashile was unconvincing. Reijnders nipped in, teasing Badiashile, rolling his studs over the ball to go on the outside before lashing high inside the near post. Jörgensen knows that such concessions are never a good look for a goalkeeper. The power brooked no argument.
McFarlane made changes. He got Andrey Santos on in midfield which freed up Fernández a little. Palmer pushed up to right wing, from where he continued to roam. Gusto swapped from left-back to right-back with orders to get forward. Chelsea created another big chance, Fernández pirouetting after a Palmer pass before teeing up Neto, who lifted wastefully over the crossbar. It was wonderful skill from Fernández.
City pushed for a second. Haaland was denied by a Badiashile block; Bernardo Silva likewise by Jorrel Hato, who had also come off the bench. But Chelsea were never out of it. Delap spun Abdukodir Khusanov, who had replaced the injured Gvardiol, before working Donnarumma from a tight angle and it was not a surprise when his team got their reward. Fernández would disappear into the arms of the Chelsea fans on the front row of the away enclosure. The goal resonated just as loudly in north London.
