Osamagbe Imadiyi
Erling Haaland led Manchester City’s comeback from a 1-0 deficit to defeat Chelsea 3-1 on Saturday, advancing the Blues into the Premier League’s top four. City bounced back from a terrible start to Abdukodir Khusanov’s debut. Noni Madueke scored the first goal for Chelsea after the Uzbek defender gave it away. Josko Gvardiol gave Pep Guardiola’s team an equalizer, but 22 minutes from the end, Haaland showed off his strength and skill to chip in the game-winning goal.
After winning just one of their previous nine league games, the Norwegian striker then set up the highly effective Phil Foden to secure City’s fourth victory in five games .New signings Khusanov and Omar Marmoush were given their debuts by Guardiola, but Khusanov’s decision backfired spectacularly within three minutes.
After the first-ever Uzbek player in Premier League history misjudged a header back to his own goal, Madueke was set up for a straightforward tap-in by Nicolas Jackson. Shortly after, Khusanov’s reckless challenge on Cole Palmer earned him just a yellow card.
City’s greatest offensive threat was Josko Gvardiol, who made raging runs from left-back. Just before halftime, he scored his fifth Premier League goal of the season after missing with a left-footed attempt and then taking advantage of a rebound from Matheus Nunes’ blocked shot.
On his debut, Marmoush nearly scored but missed the mark after Haaland’s pass. Haaland gave City the lead a few seconds later by outmuscling Trevoh Chalobah to grab a long ball from Ederson and chipping an advancing Sanchez.
Haaland has scored six goals in his last six games this season, giving him a total of 24 goals. Phil Foden scored his sixth goal in his last four league games after he turned provider and laid off a pass.
