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On a night of mistakes, the first was the worst but not the costliest. And for that, Abdukodir Khusanov could thank Robert Sanchez. The £33m defender’s Manchester City career may yet be defined by the opening few minutes but a traumatised figure ultimately ended a winner.
First impressions can prove deceptive, and he must hope so, but Sanchez, 17 months into a seven-year contract, again looked a liability whose latest blunder allowed Erling Haaland to score in a turnaround. City, having appeared a mess, ended up victorious to leapfrog Chelsea.
If Noni Madueke’s goal may haunt Khusanov, the scale of the missed opportunity should haunt Chelsea. They had not beaten City since the 2021 Champions League final, not scored in eight of their previous 10 meetings. But gifted a goal by vulnerable opponents with a newcomer enduring the debut from hell, they failed to capitalise on City’s fallibility.
Instead, their toxic combination of a high defensive line and a lack of pressure on the ball allowed Josko Gvardiol to equalise. Sanchez’s second glaring mistake in as many games permitted Haaland to put City ahead. The Norwegian sent Phil Foden galloping through a hole where the Chelsea defence were supposed to be to add a late third.
For City, the team who led in Paris on Wednesday and lost by two goals, it was a neat role reversal. A fourth win in five league games suggests they are capable of conjuring results. Not by being a coherent side at the peak of their powers, because flaws are still all too apparent, but in Haaland –who has six goals in his last six outings – and Foden, with six in four league matches, they possess match-winners. The side showed character and their leveller indicated Pep Guardiola has found a way to compensate for his midfielders’ inability to run.
Perhaps this match was a microcosm of Chelsea’s season. They got into a promising position and then let it slip. They have only won one of their last seven league games. They could rue a lack of ruthlessness and poor decision-making at both ends. If Cole Palmer was one culprit, overhitting a pass to Nicolas Jackson when it seemed simpler to set the striker up for an easy finish, Sanchez was the prime offender.
When Ederson arrowed a long ball forward and Haaland turned Trevoh Chalobah, the Norwegian’s chipped finish was brilliant, but also rendered easier because, for reasons best known to him, Sanchez had left his line and stranded himself in no-man’s land.
For £25m, Chelsea have saddled themselves with one of the worst goalkeepers in the league. For £1.2bn, Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali have a team who always seem to need four new players and who appear short of leadership and a clinical instinct.
Their failings should serve as a relief to one of City’s new defenders. When Kyle Walker said his farewell to Manchester City on Friday, he thanked them for making his dreams came true. When Khusanov introduced himself to the Etihad Stadium, it was living a nightmare.
Within three minutes, he had given a goal away. Within four, he had been booked after gifting Chelsea possession a second time and then hacking down Palmer. Khusanov has scarcely had time to train with City. He speaks little English. He seemed on a different wavelength from his teammates, as if unable to judge the distance from them. For Chelsea’s goal, he needed to head the ball 10 yards back to Ederson. It rolled around three, intercepted by Jackson, who squared for Madueke to have a tap-in.
He looked stunned, shellshocked. His has been an extraordinary journey to become the first Uzbek to play in the Premier League. This was excruciating for a trailblazer. At times, his new colleagues tried not to pass to him. Then they sought him out, as if trying to. The sympathy vote extended: many of the crowd gave Khusanov a standing ovation when substituted, and Guardiola a consoling hug as he took mercy on his new recruit by removing him. He had lasted 53 minutes, but the first few will prove hard to forget.
City’s other debutant offered more encouragement. Omar Marmoush’s finest moments came with a caveat: he was usually offside. He had a first-minute shot. Later, he converted the rebound after Sanchez parried a shot by Ilkay Gundogan, but he had made his run too early. Which, given his pace, he did not need to. But when he whistled a shot just past the post, it showed the sharpness of a man in form.
He offered a threat; others brought still more. Foden hammered a shot against the post. Half an hour later, City were level, courtesy of their third highest scorer.
The goal was remarkable, a moment in open play where their two most advanced players were their full-backs. Gundogan dropped deep to chip a pass over Chelsea’s high defensive line. Matheus Nunes raced on to it; when his shot was blocked, Gvardiol converted the rebound.
As the left-back had made a similar run a minute earlier, when shooting wide, it was a clear tactic of Guardiola, using Gvardiol’s formidable engine to compensate for the immobility of the midfield.
City used Gundogan and Bernardo Silva almost as quarterbacks, their full-backs becoming running backs. Gvardiol was arguably the man of the match. And yet, in their own ways, it was all about Sanchez and Khusanov.
