After scoring on 68 minutes, Erling Haaland’s expression was pure box-office – and who could blame him? Manchester City had hit the front, Chelsea were cowed, and relief mainlined through Pep Guardiola. The ruthless striker’s 18th Premier League goal of the season was a sweet lofted effort fashioned over a backpedalling Robert Sánchez in the Chelsea goal: Haaland watched the ball kiss the net, then offered a comical what-else-do-you-expect face to the jubilant congregation.
![[Manchester City’s Abduqodir Khusanov (right) reacts in despair after Noni Madueke’s opener for Chelsea]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/723bc1055ba02e58b41cb338421409b095d7ecbd/0_0_6000_3868/master/6000.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
It sealed three welcome points following the 4-2 midweek capitulation at Paris Saint-Germain and the poorest of openings here from City’s new £33.8m defender, Abdukodir Khusanov. In these strange times, Phil Foden’s late clincher was a fillip. But who knows how City will perform when requiring a result against Club Brugge to stay in Europe on Wednesday.
Khusanov’s nightmare took only three minutes to develop. First, he misjudged a leap and headed air, not ball. This caused him to flap when bidding to recover and a backheader to Ederson was far too short. In nipped Nicolas Jackson whose deft outside-of-the-boot flick was easy to slide home for Noni Madueke.
The 20-year-old from Tashkent looked shellshocked, close to tears. Guardiola had head in hands, wondering if throwing him straight in was folly. The verdict would have been undeniable if Cole Palmer had scored moments later from the free-kick Khusanov gave away for chopping down the Chelsea midfielder.
