Match Report & Player Ratings: Manchester City 1-1 Chelsea (Premier League) | OneFootball

Enzo Fernandez’s 94th-minute equaliser at the Etihad Stadium meant Manchester City suffered their second draw in four days to lose further ground in the title race.

Arsenal have thereby gained a six-point advantage over Pep Guardiola’s side, with the Gunners seeing off Bournemouth on Saturday having put Aston Villa to the sword in midweek.

After being held by Sunderland earlier in the week and subsequently extending the gap to Mikel Arteta’s side at the pinnacle of the English top-flight, City needed a victory at home over Chelsea to remain in touching distance of the league leaders.

The home fans didn’t have to wait long for the opener, which came courtesy of a confident and somewhat bewildering finish from Tijjani Reijnders into the top, near corner of Chelsea’s net after the ball got caught up in Trevoh Chalobah’s feet and rolled into the midfielder’s path on the left side of the box. 

Improvements never came for Chelsea but rather a continuity of avoidable mistakes that threatened to extinguish their hopes of a comeback. Early in the second period, Josko Gvardiol went off with a concerning injury and Ruben Dias followed suit later in the half.

Eventually, a pull-back from Fernandez fell to Pedro from 10 yards but his efforts to finish into the back of the net summarised a doubtful performance at that point, until late heroics from the Argentine midfielder caused a giant upset. 

With less than two minutes of six added on, Malo Gusto broke past Nico O’Reilly on the near side before an early cross from the Frenchman trickled through a frail defensive shape, resulting in Fernandez tapping in at the back-post.

Here’s how we rated the players from Manchester City’s frustrating draw against Chelsea.

Starting XI

Gianluigi Donnarumma – 5

Made some really good decisions early on and showed progress with the ball at his feet. Wasn’t tested at all really until the last moment, which made all the difference.

Matheus Nunes – 5.5

Provided a beautiful long ball for Reijnders to capitalise on from a fast-break after 20 minutes and was brave on many loose balls that came his way. Defended well until the later stages.

Ruben Dias – 5.5

Led the defense well and was positively aggressive throughout his 81 minutes on the pitch. Committed a lot of fouls but tactical ones nonetheless, could have done without the yellow card after 54 minutes. 

Josko Gvardiol – 6.5

Perhaps showed too much aggression in the opening 15 minutes with many long passes giving possession away cheaply. Eventually proved vital when blocking Estevao’s first-half strike from inside the box. Very unfortunate to see him leave the field injured.

Nico O’Reilly – 6

It’s needless to say that his presence on the pitch is vital for Manchester City but he must do better in the dying moments to stay alert and avoid Gusto sweeping past him like he wasn’t there. 

Bernardo Silva – 5.5

As it was, his ability to open space on the right flank gave City’s full-backs the chance to feed him the ball, and although his impact was minimal in the opening stages, he soon improved by the hour before City’s descent as a whole.

Rodri – 6.5

Judged Chelsea’s intentions as a world-class defensive midfielder does. He won the majority of his tackles and ran more than several players on the pitch on Sunday – a performance that showed progress in both fitness and leadership.

Tijjani Reijnders – 8 (POTM)

Though he’s not seen as an attacking midfielder, the Dutchman made several runs down the inside-left channel and played a crucial role in City’s attacking threat – his impact bolstered following a stunning strike in the first half. 

Rayan Cherki – 7

Played an important part in the goal with his slipped pass through the middle and made effective contributions throughout the entirety. Another great performance from the attacking midfielder. 

Phil Foden – 6.5

Stayed in the advanced pockets well and nearly scored on a number of occasions, could be argued that he should have. Ran until the very last minute and showed Guardiola why he should be a starter, be it with or without the arrival of Antoine Semenyo – who puts anyone on the frontline at risk –  this month. 

Erling Haaland – 6.5

Came very close to a spectacular finish six minutes from the interval and was a thorn in the side for Chelsea’s backline with his blistering runs. You could argue that, given his standards, he should have scored but a much improved performance from that against Sunderland nonetheless. 

Substitutes

Nathan Ake – 6.5

Got ahead of Delap late on to draw sighs of relief from the Etihad and was perhaps the best substitute of the day from Guardiola. 

Jeremy Doku – 6

Given Chelsea’s late spell of possession, Doku rarely got a touch of the ball, other than his singular shot. Still, he kept his position and pressed when it was required. 

Abdukodir Khusanov – 6

Despite being unfairly slammed into the advertisement boards, Khusanov dominated well in the 40 minutes he played after Gvardiol’s injury until the goal. Can his positive performance, partnered with City’s lack of defensive depth, be the beginning of him starting regularly?