It would have been easy for Pep Guardiola and Manchester City to think that this was a good time to face Chelsea. The London club had crashed in December, their Premier League form awful and the rising tensions between Enzo Maresca and the board would explode on New Year’s Eve.

There have not been many managerial changes on the very first day of a year and this one left Calum McFarlane, the club’s under-21 coach, thrust in as the interim manager. Never before had he taken charge of a single senior game.

McFarlane might not get another if Chelsea can, as they hope, appoint a permanent successor to Maresca before Wednesday night’s derby at Fulham. Liam Rosenior of Strasbourg is their No 1 target. But McFarlane can look back with pride and maybe a touch of amazement on his moment in the spotlight as Chelsea held their own with City before stunning them with a stoppage-time Enzo Fernández equaliser.

It’s been a bad week for City, who have lost four points in two games and now sit six points behind Arsenal.

90+7 min Chelsea fancy a bit more. Fernandez moves into the area before mishitting a shot that is easily saved by Donnarumma.

90+6 min Fernandez was booked after the goal, presumably for his celebration.

90+5 min There’s a VAR check for offside on the goal. But it stands and Chelsea are level!

Gusto skipped away from O’Reilly on the right and curled a brilliant low cross into the corridor of uncertainty. It took a slight touch off Ake, stretching towards his own goal, and reached Fernandez at the far post. His close-range shot was brilliantly saved by Donnarumma but Fernandez forced the rebound into the net from a couple of yards. He almost missed it, in fact – the ball hit the inside of the post and went into the net.

90 min Six minutes of added time.

89 min Hato screws a low cross from the left towards Palmer. He barely connects with an attempted right-foot shot and the ball runs towrds Delap, whose shot has the sting taken off it by Ake. That was half a chance.

87 min City have kept Chelsea at arm’s length for the last few minutes. In fact, in terms of defensive control they’re probably having their best spell of the second half. But at 1-0 it’s never safe, not ever.

84 min These are nervous times for City, who know that a Chelsea equaliser would love them six points behind Arsenal.

81 min: City substitution Nathan Ake comes on for Ruben Dias, who presumably has an injury problem.

79 min Nunes is also booked, presumably for putting hands on Delap.

79 min Palmer plays a good pass down the inside-right channel. Khusanov holds him off, a fine piece of defending, so Delap shoves Khusanov off the field and into the advertising boards. The City players aren’t happy and there’s a bit of argy-bargy near the touchline. Delap is booked.

75 min City aren’t having much of the ball by their standards but they do at least look dangerous on the break. Doku plays a superb long pass down the left to release Foden; he tries to square it to Haaland but the ball is cut out.

72 min Chelsea continue to threaten. Fernandez feeds a sharp pass into Delap, who rolls Khusanov splendidly and whacks shot from the angle that takes a slight deflection off Khusanov and is blocked at the near post by Donnarumma.

70 min: City substitution Jeremy Doku comes on for the goalscorer Tijjani Reijnders.

69 min Cherki charges down the inside-right channel, onto an adroit chested pass from Haaland. He gets into the area and tries to tee up Bernardo Silva, who is considering a shot when a Chelsea defender slides in to make an important challenge.

67 min Neto has a shot blocked after another menacing break from Chelsea. They have been so much better since switching to a back three.

62 min: City substitutions Liam Delap, once of City, and Jorrel Hato replace Joao Pedro and the impressive teenager Josh Acheampong.

60 min Yes, it was excellent defending from James. I don’t think Cherki dived, though; it was a natural fall after he made contact with James.

59 min City have a big penalty appeal turned down when Cherki goes over after a challenge from James. Cherki was trying to set himself up for a shot after receiving a pass from Reijnders; it looked like James did well to get between the man and the ball, at which point Cherki decided to try his luck. But we haven’t seen a replay yet.

58 min A frankly chilling 50-yard run from Haaland – think Jonah Lomu v England in 1995 - ends with a low shot from 15 yards that is excellently blocked by Badiashile.

54 min Now Ruben Dias is booked for a foul on Joao Pedro.

53 min James follows through onto Rodri’s foot and is booked. I suspect it’s more for cumulative offending than that particular foul.

51 min: City substitution Actually it might be an ankle injury that Gvardiol has suffered; he seemed to roll it while making a challenge on a Chelsea player. He’s helped off the field by a City physio and Reece James. Abdukodir Khusanov replaces him.

50 min Yes, Gvardiol’a race is run – he has some kind of muscle problem. Don’t we all.

47 min JOao Pedro releases Neto on the left side of the area. He isn’t sure whether to shoot – the angle is very tight – or try to pick somebody out. Eventually he does the latter and the ball deflect into the hands of Donnarumma.

Yeah, Chelsea are playing with Gusto and Neto as wing-backs in a 3-4-2-1 system. Palmer and Enzo Fernandez are the No10s.

46 min Peep peep! In fact it looks like Chelsea might have switched to a back three.

Half-time substitution Chelsea are bringing on Andrey Santos for Estevao to stiffen their midfield. Cole Palmer will move to the right wing.

“That Reijnders goal was like a diet version of Kvaratskhelia against Villa in last season’s Champions League quarters,” writes Tanay Padhi. “Lovely rollover and then hammered it with the left.”

That’s a great spot!

Half-time reading

“Aguero-esque from Reijnders,” says Joshua Keeling. “Love that sort of finish.”

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.

41 min Palmer catches Cherki on the achilles, a poor tackle that goes unpunished.

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.

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.

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.