Man City v Chelsea player ratings
Chelsea were beaten 3-1 by Manchester City, who came from behind at the Etihad Stadium. Here’s how we rated each Blues player.
Robert Sanchez: 5
Another performance that will raise questions over his future as Chelsea’s number one goalkeeper. Poor for City’s second goal, when he was drawn off his line trying to beat Erling Haaland to a long ball. The striker got there first, and curled it over his head from outside the box. Shambolic.
Reece James: 6
Found Omar Marmoush, who was making his Premier League debut, a handful to deal with in the first half. Was unable to support Chelsea’s attacks as much as he would have liked, and was replaced with 20 minutes to play.
Trevor Chalobah: 6
Pressed well and often looked to drive team forward by carrying the ball out from the back, but was outpaced by Haaland in the build-up to City’s second. Nearly had an early assist when he slipped a smart pass through to Cole Palmer, who should have done better in a two-on-one situation.
Levi Colwill: 5
Struggled in the second half when City changed their gameplan to bring Haaland into the match. The striker was too strong for him when he set up Phil Foden to kill the game. Also picked up an unnecessary yellow card for time-wasting 25 minutes into the match.
Marc Cucurella: 6
Had a fairly sold game defensively, but should have been looking to link up with Jadon Sancho and attack down the left side after Abdukodir Khusanov’s shaky start. Could have been stronger to hold off Matheus Nunes in the build-up to Josko Gvardiol’s equaliser.
Moises Caicedo: 6
Contained City’s midfield trio during a back-and-forth game, and was perhaps a factor in City boss Pep Guardiola’s decision to change his gameplan and go direct to Haaland in the second half.
Enzo Fernandez: 6
Was unable to provide much of an attacking threat to support Chelsea’s forwards.
Noni Madueke: 6
Scored the opener two minutes into the game when he tapped into an empty net after good work from Nicolas Jackson. But fell asleep for City’s equaliser and played Gvardiol onside before failing to track back with him.
Cole Palmer: 6
Couldn’t provide the attacking spark that he so often does. Had a chance to double Chelsea’s lead early in the first half when he broke two-on-one with Jackson, but overhit his pass instead of attempting to score himself.
Jadon Sancho: 6
Struggled to make much of an attacking impact when there was an opportunity to put City’s back line under pressure after they made a poor start.
Nicolas Jackson: 7
Picked up an early assist, capitalising on Khusanov’s defensive error to unselfishly square the ball to Madueke for a tap-in. Didn’t have too many opportunities to find the net himself.
Christopher Nkunku: 6
Didn’t make much of an impact off the bench, despite coming on with half an hour to play.
Malo Gusto: 6
Had similar struggles to James after replacing him at right-back.
Pedro Neto: 6
Made no impression on the game after coming on.