Teamwork makes the dream work

Match report & 3 speaking factors from Champions League qualification shootout

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Manchester Metropolis leapfrogged Chelsea within the Premier League desk, clambering into the division’s prime 4 because of a 3-1 victory over the Blues on Saturday afternoon.

Noni Madueke fired the guests in entrance three minutes after kick-off however Chelsea by no means capitalised upon that benefit. Metropolis equalised on the cusp of the interval and scored twice with out reply within the second half, with Erling Haaland nabbing the go-ahead objective earlier than teeing up Phil Foden in an impressed show.

Nevertheless, it was largely an error-strewn affair on the Etihad Stadium which defined why either side are battling for Champions League qualification slightly than the Premier League title.

How the sport unfolded

“For positive, they are going to be again quickly,” Enzo Maresca stated of Manchester Metropolis forward of kick-off. “I haven’t got any doubt.” The defending champions had emphatically not rediscovered their imperious edge quickly sufficient to cease Chelsea from taking the lead after three minutes.

The Blues pounced upon two frenzied moments of indecision from debutant Abdukodir Khusanov. After leaping beneath a excessive ball, the £42m recruit from Lens scuffed a headed back-pass which Nicolas Jackson devoured up and squared for Madueke to provide Chelsea an early lead.

The hosts belatedly recovered their composure, making a glut of probabilities all through a primary half which additionally supplied Chelsea some scoring alternatives. Most of Metropolis’s menace was channelled by means of the buccaneering determine of Josko Gvardiol. After being denied on two events, the highly effective full-back ultimately discovered the again of the web.

Matheus Nunes’ burst in behind was picked out by a ball excessive from Ilkay Gundogan. Caught unaware by an uncharacteristically direct strategy, Marc Cucurella failed to carry off his Portuguese counterpart, who crashed right into a hesitant Robert Sanchez, sending the ball squirming into Gvardiol’s grateful stride.

Metropolis maintained their dedication to bypassing Chelsea’s press following the interval. Moments after Haaland teed up Omar Marmoush for a wayward effort after an extended punt ahead from Ederson, the Norwegian goal-gobbler took the burden on himself.

Cleverly pinning Trevoh Chalobah, Haaland span onto a 70-yard drive and clipped the ball over Sanchez who was stranded in No Man’s Land.

An air of nervous vitality gripped the Etihad Stadium as reminiscences of Metropolis’s frequent failings stay recent. Phil Foden’s coolly transformed third objective quashed these doubts. After one other lengthy go ahead, which Kevin De Bruyne flicked on, Haaland set his teammate away for a game-sealing strike.

Metropolis’s victory lifts them above the Blues and Newcastle United into the highest 4, trailing third-placed Nottingham Forest by simply three factors. Chelsea, in contrast, have slipped right down to sixth place and are solely above a royally in-form Bournemouth facet by advantage of scoring extra targets this season.

Take a look at Man Metropolis 3-1 Chelsea participant scores right here.

Abdukodir Khusanov

It was not a superb begin for Abdukodir Khusanov / Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA/GettyImages

Khusanov’s Premier League profession was three minutes and 36 seconds previous by the point he had given away a objective and been proven his first yellow card within the competitors. By stark comparability, Omar Marmoush proved his menace contained in the opening 40 seconds when rattled off an early shot.

Frazzled by his miscued leap for the primary ball, Khusanov was gripped by wobbly, four-in-the-morning logic when he tried to move a go again to Ederson from the sting of his personal field.

The Uzbek centre-back cleared his thoughts to keep away from any extra pratfalls, however was hooked inside ten minutes of the restart shortly after narrowly escaping a second yellow card for a clattering problem on Jackson. Guardiola wrapped the 20-year-old in a heat embrace which few may begrudge the teenager.

Marmoush was eliminated shortly after Metropolis took a 2-1 lead. With out marking his debut by straight contributing to a objective, there have been flashes of the fruitful partnership which the Egyptian may type with Haaland – particularly if Metropolis keep their newly direct strategy.

Matheus Nunes, Robert Sanchez, Marc Cucurella

Robert Sanchez (left) did not cowl himself in glory for Man Metropolis’s equaliser / Carl Recine/GettyImages

“He is getting higher,” Maresca stated of his first-choice goalkeeper Robert Sanchez this week, “however he is nonetheless far, far, removed from the place I would like him to be.” That hole in efficiency and expectation can have widened after the Spaniard’s displaying on the Etihad.

Sanchez spent Saturday night wading by means of a fog of indecision. Locked inside his six-yard field when introduced with the possibility to intercept Nunes’ heavy contact for Metropolis’s equaliser, the unconvincing custodian ought to have stayed on his line for Haaland’s chip. Sanchez’s boneheaded wandering pressured the Norwegian to take purpose, creating a gap which might not have existed had he not gone walkabout.

Chelsea’s primary has made 5 errors resulting in Premier League targets this season – a tally no different goalkeeper within the division can prime.

Enzo Maresca

Enzo Maresca could not level the best way to victory for Chelsea / Michael Regan/GettyImages

Regardless of the apparent outward respect that Maresca – Guardiola’s former assistant – confirmed to his previous employers, this was a golden alternative for Chelsea to finish their ten-game winless streak in opposition to Metropolis. Thomas Tuchel, one other self-confessed Guardiola disciple, was the final Blues boss to beat the reigning English champions.

Chelsea took a three-minute lead by preying upon the uncertainty that’s nonetheless rooted within the seams of Metropolis’s rearguard. “Our drawback is with the ball,” Guardiola defined pre-game. “This season it’s what we have now missed. You probably have the ball and do not go correctly to your mate, the whole lot is so tough.”

Khusanov underscored that vulnerability, but the Blues barely examined Metropolis’s resolve thereafter, sitting again in a mid-block for a lot of the competition. Earlier than the guests may rediscover a vicious edge, Metropolis had lastly found out that they might keep away from any nervy passes in their very own field and threaten Chelsea’s space by sending lengthy balls ahead to Haaland.

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