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Half-time reading
“Aguero-esque from Reijnders,” says Joshua Keeling. “Love that sort of finish.”
Half time: Man City 1-0 Chelsea
City lead through a blistering finish from Tijjani Reijnders. They were the better team throughout and, while the first 35 minutes had a strong whiff of sterile domination, they started to undress Chelsea as half-time approached. Erling Haaland hit the post, Reijnders scored and there were other openings as well.
Chelsea defended well but offered the square root of bugger all in attack.
45+2 min A corner from the left breaks for Foden, 15 yards out. He wafts over the bar with right foot.
45 min Chelsea desperately need half-time because City have overwhelmed them in the last 10 minutes.
Tijjani Reijnders blasts City into a deserved lead. Cherki’s attempted through pass to Haaland was well cut out by Badiashile, with Reijnders collecting the loose ball on the edge of the area. Badiashile forced him away from goal, seemingly too wide, but then Reijnders hit an explosive shot with his left foot that flew past Jorgensen at the near post.
GOAL! Man City 1-0 Chelsea (Reijnders 42)
It’s been coming.
41 min Palmer catches Cherki on the achilles, a poor tackle that goes unpunished.
39 min: Haaland hits the post!
City are getting closer. Rodri sweeps a pass across to Haaland on the edge of the area. He cuts inside Badiashile, onto his left foot, and flashes a curling shot back across the goal. It beats Jorgensen, thumps the inside of the post and bounces right across the face of the goal.
38 min: Good save by Jorgensen! Haaland collects a flick from Foden, rumbles to the edge of the area and hits a shot into the ground that takes a biggish deflection off Badiashile. The ball loops up and is clawed round the post by the diving Jorgensen.
37 min Nice play from Bernardo Silva, who teases Gusto on the right side of the area before moving onto his left foot and lifting a shot towards the far corner. It’s a few yards too high.
35 min City have had 68 per cent possession but only three attempts at goal.
33 min Erling Haaland and Cole Palmer have barely had a kick.
31 min Foden heads wide from a chipped cross by Bernardo Silva, who was offside anyway.
30 min James trips Rodri and is a bit fortunate to escape a yellow card. Although CIty haven’t created much in the first half hour, it does feel like they are slowly wearing Chelsea down.
28 min Reijnders stands up a cross towards Haaland, whose header hits Badiashile and spins behind for a corner. Haaland has been very quiet so far.
24 min Chelsea have defended really well, helped admittedly by some constipated football from City. It’s an interesting game but not yet an exciting one.
20 min Foden shoots wide from 15 yards after a beautiful counter-attack from City. It included a superb long pass form Nunes to Reijnder and a sensational first touch from Foden to cut back inside Gusto on the edge of the area. That was the hardest part and, though the chance itself was a tough one, he’ll be frustrated he didn’t hit the target.
19 min: Chance for Estevao! Chelsea almost take the lead with one of their first attacks. A cross from the left bounced through to Estevao, 10 yards out, but he slipped as he hit a first-time shot and it was well blocked by Gvardiol.
14 min Lots of possession for City now. They look in the mood to pass Chelsea to death, however long it takes.
12 min Instead of shooting, as expected, Cherki clips a clever little ball that is booted behind by Fernandez. Dias was waiting behind him and would have had an excellent chance.
11 min Cherki is fouled 25 yards from goal by James. He and Foden are over the ball…
7 min It’s been a comfortable start for Chelsea, with City playing at a relatively slow pace. Their shape is interesting: it’s ostensibly 4-1-4-1 but Reijnders is playing very narrow, so they almost have three central midfielders, Cherki to the right and Nico O’Reilly, the left-back, taking care of business on the other side.
4 min An early corner for Chelsea on the left. James teases it to the near post, where Acheampong gets a dangerous Steve Bould-style flick-on. Gvardiol heads clear but the whistle had gone for a foul on Donnarumma.
2 min City are playing with Reijnders on the left – or at least playing from the left - and Phil Foden in the centre, not the other way round as advertised on this channel.
1 min Peep peep! After a strikingly well observed minute’s silence for all those connected to City who died in 2025, Chelsea gets this match under way.
Today's Premier League results
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Everton 2-4 Brentford
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Fulham 2-2 Liverpool
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Leeds 1-1 Man Utd
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Newcastle 2-0 Crystal Palace
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Tottenham 1-1 Sunderland
Jonathan Wilson
Antoine Semenyo, it seems likely, will soon join Manchester City from Bournemouth for a fee of £65m. Given how well Rayan Cherki and Phil Foden have played from the right this season, it is not immediately obvious why City need him, but the modern game is the modern game, the rammed calendar makes large and flexible squads essential and Pep Guardiola may have some esoteric plan for the Ghanaian anyway. But perhaps what is most striking about the deal is the fee – or, more precisely, how little attention it has drawn.
English football has become inured to big transfers. The fee feels about right. Semenyo is 25. He has four and a half years left on his contract. He is quick, skilful, intelligent and works hard. He is disciplined, but has the capacity to do the unexpected. Of course a player of his ability costs that much. Yet £65m would make him the third-most expensive player in Bundesliga history. He would be the seventh-most expensive in Serie A history, the 14th-most expensive in La Liga history. Only nine non-English clubs have paid a fee higher than that. Even in Premier League terms, Semenyo sneaks into the top 25.
Will Unwin
Chelsea’s visit to Manchester City will be a homecoming for members of the travelling party. Five Chelsea players were nurtured at the academy that sits a few hundred yards from the Etihad Stadium, on the other side of a bridge.
The London club’s recent recruitment has been heavily influenced by City’s teaching of players and coaches. Tosin Adarabioyo, Cole Palmer, Liam Delap, Jamie Gittens and Roméo Lavia were members of City’s youth ranks, most working there under Enzo Maresca. If one thread was unpicked this week when Maresca dramatically departed Chelsea, the link remains strong because Sunday’s caretaker, Calum McFarlane, was formerly the under-18s assistant manager at City.
Team news
Josko Gvardiol, Rodri and Tijjani Reijnders return to the City side in place of Nathan Ake, Nico Gonzalez and Savinho.
Five changes for Chelsea. Filip Jorgensen, Benoit Badiashile, Reece James, Pedro Neto and Joao Pedro come in for Robert Sanchez, Wesley Fofana, Moises Caicedo, Alejandro Garnacho and Liam Delap. Caicedo’s absence through suspension is a big blow to Chelsea.
Man City (possible 4-1-4-1) Donnarumma; Nunes, Dias, Gvardiol, O’Reilly; Rodri; Cherki, Bernardo Silva, Reijnders, Foden; Haaland.
Subs: Trafford, Ake, Doku, Khusanov, McAidoo, Mukasa, Lewis, Mfuni, R Heskey.
Chelsea (4-2-3-1) Jorgensen; Acheampong, Chalobah, Badiashile, Gusto; James, Fernandez; Estevao, Palmer, Pedro Neto; Joao Pedro.
Subs: Garnacho, Guiu, Hato, Santos, Bynoe-Gittens, Delap, Adarabioyo, Merrick, Slonina.
Referee Michael Oliver.
Preamble
Hello and welcome to live coverage of Manchester City v Chelsea at the Etihad. It’s not a must-win game for City, because this is January and there are still over 50 points to play for in the Premier League season, but it’s not far off.
Arsenal’s victory at Bournemouth last night moved them seven points clear of City, who have today’s game in hand. City have been a bit fragile in away games, so their home form is even more important than usual.
Chelsea are dangerous opponents, even when they are in disarray after starting the new year by breaking up with the manager who made them world champions a few months ago. In the circumstances, this game is a bit of a free hit. For City, it’s anything but.
Kick off 5.30pm.
