Chelsea\u2019s busy start to 2026 continued with a 1-1 draw away to Manchester City.<\/p>\n
It was a chaotic way to start the post-Enzo Maresca days, with the game overseen by Calum McFarlane, the interim head coach until Maresca\u2019s replacement is named. It was certainly a tough welcome to Premier League football, but his side showed good resilience to earn a point.<\/p>\n
In the first 45 minutes, the Blues were rather timid, even when in attacking situations. They seemed reluctant to get forward, inviting City onto them, which led to Tijjani Reijnders\u2019 opener.<\/p>\n
He picked up a loose ball and drove at the Chelsea defender, before making space and firing a shot past Filip Jorgensen.<\/p>\n
Things were slightly better for the west Londoners in the second half. They had a couple of good opportunities, and Liam Delap caused problems against his former club after coming off the bench.
\nDelap<\/p>\n
Just when it seemed like it wasn\u2019t to be for Chelsea in East Manchester, they managed to fashion an equaliser, right at the death. Deep in stoppage time, Malo Gusto swung a cross right into the City box. After a few deflections, Enzo Fernandez managed to bundle the ball over the line to snatch a point.<\/p>\n
Indeed, the Blues’ star man against City was surely Fernandez.
\nEnzo Fernandez’s stats vs City<\/p>\n
Following his late goal, Sky Sports commentator Gary Neville awarded Fernandez player of the match for his display at the Etihad Stadium. It is fair to say the 2022 World Cup winner deserved the accolade.
\nenzo-fernandez<\/p>\n
Missing his usual partner in midfield, Moises Caicedo, Fernandez slotted in next to club captain Reece James. He still had the license to get forward and impact the game in the final third and he made the most of that, showing good resilience to get the ball over the line and buy Chelsea a point.<\/p>\n
The 24-year-old has some impressive stats to his name at full-time. He was excellent off the ball, winning seven duels, three tackles and making five recoveries. In possession, he created two chances and, of course, scored the all-important equaliser.<\/p>\n
One person who was left impressed by Chelsea number eight\u2019s performance was Goal journalist Richie Mills. He gave Fernandez an 8\/10 for his efforts in Manchester, explaining he could return to London “with his head held high” after the performance.
\nEnzo Fernandez<\/p>\n
The midfielder played so well that he arguably saved the blushes of one of his Chelsea teammates. Unfortunately, with the impending arrival of a new manager, it was not timely.
\nChelsea star must not start under Rosenior<\/p>\n
As well as Fernandez did at the Etihad Stadium, it was a day to forget for winger Pedro Neto.<\/p>\n
He was poor in the final third, running down blind alleys and often making the wrong decision. The winger also missed an effort from close range, firing Fernandez\u2019s pass over after some good work in the box.
\nPedro Neto<\/p>\n
His rating from the aforementioned Mills was somewhat scathing. The journalist awarded him a 4\/10 for his evening\u2019s work, describing it as a \u201cfrustrating game\u201d and calling his decision-making \u201ca tad baffling.\u201d<\/p>\n
Indeed, the numbers reflect just how poorly Neto played against Pep Guardiola\u2019s side. He had 43 touches but lost the ball on 12 occasions, and only completed 11 passes in City\u2019s half. He failed to create a chance and mustered just one shot from Fernandez\u2019s pass, which he skied.<\/p>\n
Neto key stats vs. Man City<\/p>\n
Stat<\/p>\n
Number<\/p>\n
Touches<\/p>\n
43<\/p>\n
Possession lost<\/p>\n
12x<\/p>\n
Opposition half passes completed<\/p>\n
11<\/p>\n
Duels won<\/p>\n
2\/6<\/p>\n
Dribbles completed<\/p>\n
1\/2<\/p>\n
Shots<\/p>\n
1<\/p>\n
Chances created<\/p>\n
0<\/p>\n
Stats from Sofascore<\/p>\n
It seems as though Liam Rosenior will become the new Blues boss, but will Neto be someone he chooses on a regular basis? Well, the Portuguese has not exactly covered himself in glory in a game you might consider critical before the new manager arrives.<\/p>\n
The 25-year-old has struggled for consistency this season, and his lack of good decisions in the final third is frustrating at times. That is certainly something which could put Rosenior off, despite Neto\u2019s pace and directness going forward.
\nNeto<\/p>\n
There are options if the potential new Blues gaffer chooses an alternative option to Neto out wide. Summer signings Alejandro Garnacho and Jamie Gittens are two players he can counton to play on the left wing, where their number seven tends to operate.<\/p>\n
Either way, the Strasburg manager has big decisions to make, and it would not be a surprise if he didn\u2019t choose to play Neto from the start in his first game.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Chelsea\u2019s busy start to 2026 continued with a 1-1 draw away to Manchester City. It was a chaotic way to start the post-Enzo Maresca days, with the game overseen by Calum McFarlane, the interim head coach until Maresca\u2019s replacement is named. It was certainly a tough welcome to Premier League football, but his side showed …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11605,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11604","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/evutisblog.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/enzo-fernandez-chelsea-reece-james.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/evutisblog.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11604","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/evutisblog.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/evutisblog.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/evutisblog.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/evutisblog.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11604"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/evutisblog.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11604\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11606,"href":"https:\/\/evutisblog.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11604\/revisions\/11606"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/evutisblog.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/11605"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/evutisblog.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/evutisblog.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/evutisblog.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}