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25 min: Colwill is booked for taking his sweet time over the restart.
24 min: Nunes wins a corner down the City right. Foden plays it short and the move breaks down. But City come again through Silva down the same flank. Silva crosses, Haaland eyebrows it on, and Gvardiol brings it down on the left-hand corner of the six-yard box. Gvardiol leans back and blooters over the bar. Big chance missed.
23 min: Marmoush smashes the free kick straight into the wall. He was going for the top-left corner. Not enough height.
22 min: Gvardiol finds Marmoush this time, down the inside-left channel. James comes across and clumsily knocks him to the ground. It’s a free kick just to the left of the Chelsea D. A chance for Marmoush to showcase his set-piece skill.
21 min: Foden turns elegantly in the centre circle and sprays a pass wide left for Gvardiol, who barrels into the Chelsea box and crosses low for Marmoush. The new striker extends a leg but doesn’t connect. He’d have converted had he done so. Mind you, he was also clearly offside, so it’s all moot.
19 min: Chelsea are getting a lot of joy down the left. Sancho and Cucurella combine cutely but the latter’s cross doesn’t get through to Jackson. Meanwhile here’s Hugh Molloy offering City’s debutant defender some much-needed historical succour: “Khusanov, poor lad, three touches, three shockers. What’s the earliest hook in Premier League history I wonder? Saying that, I remember early Nemanja Vidić and thought he looked looked and moved more like a nightclub bouncer than footballer.”
17 min: On the touchline, Pep is chuntering hard at his team, who look seriously shaken by the start to this game. Imagine the inner monologue of his new defender. “Even as an ardent Arsenal fan, my heart was breaking for Khusanov in those first few minutes, and indeed cheered when he blocked that shot,” writes Tanay Padhi. “Lamb to the slaughter, it’s been tough to watch.”
15 min: Chelsea spring on the counter again, Sancho tearing down the left and nearly finding Jackson in the middle, six yards out. Akanji is on point to hook clear, just in time.
13 min: Palmer was uncharacteristically sloppy back there. It was something of a surprise that he didn’t take on the shot himself when clean through; his pass across to Jackson was way too heavy, and all momentum was lost, allowing Khusanov to get back and gain some redemption by blocking Sancho’s shot/
11 min: … and now Foden crashes a shot off the right-hand upright! Both defences are absolutely all over the shop. This is like watching Spurs play Spurs.
9 min: It really should be 0-2 now. Marmoush is dispossessed by Chalobah in the centre circle. Chalobah immediately slips Palmer clear, Khusanov too deep and playing him onside. Palmer could shoot but rolls across to Jackson. The pass too heavy. Jackson, forced wide, cuts back for Sancho, whose shot is blocked … by Khusanov. It’s been up and down so far for the young man all right!
7 min: Well, that could have been worse, I guess. Had Khusanov not fouled Palmer, the former City starlet would have most likely gone through on goal. A fair chance then Chelsea would have gone two up in short order. “Horrible error that and it was noticeable that with the exception of Ederson, no City player went over to Khusanov to offer any support,” observes Stephen Carr.
5 min: Nothing comes of the resulting free kick. Poor Khusanov’s head must be swimming. Not exactly the ideal start to life at your new club. He’s just 20 years old.
4 min: … and now Khusanov goes into the book for a cynical clank into Palmer, who was running into space down the middle. Palmer was only doing so because Khusanov had rolled a hospital pass to Kovacic. He was lucky there were covering defenders, because VAR double-checked for a red-card offence as last man.
GOAL! Manchester City 0-1 Chelsea (Madueke 3)
… and what a terrible start this is for Khusanov, whose second touch in his new shirt is a nightmare. He misses a simple clearing header, then turns and fluffs an attempt to head back to Ederson. Jackson nips in and rolls across to Madueke, who has an open goal to roll into.
1 min: … and then Marmoush, who is sent clear down the middle by Foden and lashes inches over the bar. Turns out he’s offside, but not by much. What a start that would have been!
Chelsea get the ball rolling. Then an early touch for the new boy Khusanov.
Before kick-off, a moment to remember three former Manchester City players who have recently passed on: Tony Book, Denis Law and Bobby Kennedy. The warmest of applause and an a cappella version of Blue Moon.
The teams are out! Manchester City in sky blue, Chelsea in their first-choice royal. A cracking atmosphere at the Etihad. A big hug between the two managers, who know each other so well. We’ll be off in a couple of minutes.
Enzo Maresca, erstwhile assistant to Pep, speaks to Sky. “I’m not sure Manchester City are low on confidence … they are always difficult to play … the moment everyone thinks they can drop a little bit or are low energy is the moment when they want to show everyone is wrong … it will be a tough game for sure.”
Pep Guardiola talks to Sky Sports. “I hope to see the best of [new signings Omar Marmoush and Abdukodir Khusanov] … they bring energy … they come fit … I decided to let them play … we have an important game today … we have next Wednesday … next Sunday … one game at a time … see what happens today … we hope to perform well.”
The 3pm kick-offs have finished. Rob Smyth has all the details in Clockwatch, but the most relevant results as far as Manchester City and Chelsea are concerned are Newcastle’s 3-1 victory at Southampton and Bournemouth’s 5-0 shellacking of the previously hard-to-beat Nottingham Forest. All of which has nudged Chelsea down to fifth and City seventh, though the champions can spring back to fourth with a win tonight. Chelsea can make it to fourth this evening as well, but they just require a draw to do so.
Pre-match reading.
Manchester City hand debuts to striker Omar Marmoush and defender Abdukodir Khusanov. They’re two of three changes to the starting XI after the 4-2 capitulation at Paris Saint-Germain, the other player coming in being İlkay Gündoğan. Out-of-sorts captain Kevin De Bruyne and Savinho drop to the bench, while Rúben Dias misses out altogether. City’s third new signing Vitor Reis is on the bench.
Chelsea also make three changes, after their 3-1 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers. Levi Colwill, Enzo Fernández and Jadon Sancho stepping up; Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Pedro Neto and Tosin Adarabioyo dropping to the bench.
The teams
Manchester City: Ederson, Nunes, Khusanov, Akanji, Gvardiol, Kovacic, Gundogan, Bernardo, Marmoush, Foden, Haaland.
Subs: Ortega, Stones, Grealish, De Bruyne, Reis, Savinho, O’Reilly, Lewis, McAtee.
Chelsea: Sanchez, James, Chalobah, Colwill, Cucurella, Caicedo, Fernandez, Madueke, Palmer, Sancho, Jackson.
Subs: Jorgensen, Disasi, Acheampong, Tosin, Gusto, Dewsbury-Hall, Neto, Nkunku, Guiu.
Referee: John Brooks
VAR: Stuart Attwell
Preamble
Rather unexpectedly, this match is probably not going to have a huge bearing on the title race … though you never know. What we do know for sure is that it’s a repeat of the classic 1986 Full Members’ Cup final. So nostalgia fans should get stuck into this ☟☟☟☟☟☟. Kick-off this evening is at 5.30pm. It’s on!
