An uncharacteristic method saw Manchester City secure a much-needed win over Chelsea. Check out the best facts and Opta data in our Man City vs Chelsea stats page.
Manchester City came from behind to beat Chelsea 3-1 at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday, and largely had long passes to thank for it.
Noni Madueke gave the visitors an early lead, only for goals from Josko Gvardiol, Erling Haaland and Phil Foden – all three a result of long passes – to turn things around.
Pep Guardiola’s men are up to fourth in the Premier League on goal difference, grateful for a morale-boosting win after their chastening defeat at Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League in midweek. Chelsea drop to sixth having won just one of their last seven in the league (D3 L3).
Guardiola handed starts to new signings Abdukodir Khusanov and Omar Marmoush, with the former in particular struggling on his Premier League debut.
It almost couldn’t have been a worse start for Khusanov, who made a mess of trying to get the ball back to Ederson, gifting it straight to Nicolas Jackson, who gave Madueke an easy tap-in to put Chelsea ahead inside three minutes.
Khusanov was then handed his first yellow card in a City shirt after bringing down Cole Palmer in the fourth minute, leaving the Uzbek youngster with a look on his face that suggested this was a trickier first appearance than he had been expecting.
Chelsea should have had a second following another break but Palmer made a mess of the final ball to Jackson, sending him too wide before Khusanov made amends for his earlier error to get back and block the eventual effort from Enzo Fernández.
Marmoush was making runs that were troubling Chelsea’s backline, but it was Gvardiol who had City’s first real chance to equalise, only to sky a shot from the left-side of the penalty area in the 25th minute.
Marmoush had the ball in the net in the 34th minute after following up when Robert Sánchez spilled Ilkay Gündogan’s shot from the edge of the box, but the flag went up for offside.
Gvardiol had another good chance to equalise when he ran onto a ball over the top but could only stab past the far post.
It was third-time lucky for the Croatian though in the 42nd minute when Matheus Nunes ran onto another ball over the top from Gündogan. Sanchez tried to stop Nunes, but Marc Cucurella on the cover kicked the ball against his goalkeeper, seeing it run to Gvardiol who had a simple tap in.
After a difficult debut, Khusanov was replaced by John Stones in the 52nd minute, but Marmoush continued to look bright, firing just wide midway through the second half when Haaland fed him.
Just moments later, though, Haaland did give City the lead.
Another long pass, this time from Ederson, saw the Norwegian roll Trevoh Chalobah and run down the right, only to see Sanchez a long way off his line, so Haaland lobbed the ball into the empty net with ease.
City wrapped things up in the 88th minute when Ederson again played a long pass towards the halfway line, with Kevin De Bruyne flicking it on to Haaland, who held the ball up and fed Foden. His run saw him ease through Chelsea’s defence and he made no mistake to finish past Sanchez. That made it six goals in his last four Premier League appearances for Foden.
Ahead of a massive week for Man City where they must beat Club Brugge to stay in the Champions League before travelling to Arsenal in the league next weekend, this was a much-needed win and performance.
Our Opta match centre delivers you all the Man City vs Chelsea stats from their Premier League meeting at the Etihad Stadium.
The match centre below includes team and player stats, expected goals data, passing networks, an Opta chalkboard and more. It gives you everything you need to do your own post-match analysis.
Underneath the match centre you can find some of the official Opta stats on the game as well.
Man City vs Chelsea: Post-Match Facts
- Manchester City have won more points from losing positions than any other side in the Premier League this season (17). Indeed, five of their 12 wins this term have come after conceding the first goal.
- Ederson’s assist for Erling Haaland was his fifth for Manchester City in the Premier League – the joint-most of any goalkeeper in the competition’s history along with Paul Robinson.
- Noni Madueke’s third-minute strike was Chelsea’s earliest ever away goal against the reigning Premier League champions, and third-earliest home and away after Gus Poyet vs Man Utd in October 1999 (first minute) and Gianfranco Zola vs Man Utd in February 1997 (second minute).
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