Live: Referee rubbing Man City as Erling Haaland goal DISALLOWED and Pep Guardiola shown straight RED CARD – Man City 1:1 Chelsea
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Man City v Chelsea live: Hosts hunting second goal after Reijnders rocket breaks deadlock
Man City look to close the gap to leaders Arsenal as they host fifth-placed Chelsea at the Etihad
Richard Jolly at the Etihad & Chris Wilson
Sunday 04 January 2026 19:05 GMT
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Manchester City have broken Chelsea’s stubborn set-up to lead at the Etihad in their bid to close the gap at the top of the table to Premier League leaders Arsenal.
The managerless Blues, led by Under-21s head coach Calum McFarlane, after the shock exit of Enzo Maresca, held Pep Guardiola’s side early and even came close to leading after a glorious chance for Estevao Willian.
But moments after Erling Haaland’s thumping strike hit the woodwork, City took the lead after dominating the opening half.
Tijjani Reijnders was forced wide, but unleashed a venomous left-footed strike that squeezed past stand-in goalkeeper Filip Jörgensen at the near post.
Follow live updates from Man City v Chelsea in the Premier League, below:
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MAN CITY V CHELSEA LIVE: LATEST SCORE AND UPDATES FROM PREMIER LEAGUE
Man City host Chelsea in Premier League | live on Sky Sports Main Event
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42′ GOAL! Reijnders lashes in near-post effort [MCI 1-0 CHE]
39′ OFF THE POST! Haaland hits woodwork with curled effort [MCI 0-0 CHE]
Man City XI: Donnarumma, Nunes, Dias, Gvardiol, O’Reilly, Rodri, Bernardo, Reijnders, Foden, Cherki, Haaland.
Chelsea XI: Jorgensen; Acheampong, Chalobah, Badiashile, Gusto; Fernandez, James; Estevao, Palmer, Neto; Joao Pedro.
3 minutes ago
Man City 1-0 Chelsea
Here’s Richard Jolly at the Etihad Stadium with the latest:
Off goes Reijnders. He delivered 15 goals for AC Milan last season and, while he took a while to show the same touch for City, now has three in his last four games. Replacing players of the calibre of Ilkay Gundogan and Kevin de Bruyne is not as simple as that but at least the Dutchman has shown the goalscoring ability of some of his predecessors.
Richard Jolly4 January 2026 19:04
6 minutes ago
Man City 1-0 Chelsea
68 mins
CHANCE! Great defending from Hato here.
Haaland brings down Donnarumma’s pass and knocks it to Cherki, who drives into the box. He tries to square it to Foden for a tap-in, but Hato slides in to divert it away.
(REUTERS)
Chris Wilson4 January 2026 19:02
10 minutes ago
Man City 1-0 Chelsea
The latest from Richard Jolly at the Etihad:
“On come Liam Delap and Jorrel Hato. Delap is part of the large ex-City contingent at Chelsea – although their numbers are smaller now without Enzo Maresca and Willy Caballero.”
Richard Jolly at the Etihad4 January 2026 18:57
11 minutes ago
Man City 1-0 Chelsea
64 mins
Chelsea briefly threaten with a couple of lovely crosses – the second of which is perfectly placed by James into the corridor between Donnarumma and his defenders – but no Blues forward took the gamble at the back post.
Chris Wilson4 January 2026 18:57
13 minutes ago
Man City 1-0 Chelsea
62 mins
Never a penalty that, on second look. In fact, it’s superb defending from Reece James.
The Blues go up the other end and win a corner, which the captain will deliver – it comes to nothing though as it’s cleared and the flag goes up as it’s passed back towards James.
The Blues make a couple of changes as Liam Delap and Jorrel Hato replace Pedro and Acheampong.
Chris Wilson4 January 2026 18:54
16 minutes ago
Man City 1-0 Chelsea
59 mins
Chelsea almost pay the price for allowing Haaland too much space as he picks up the ball near halfway and beara down on goal, skipping past a challenge before firing in a shot that is blocked well.
Moments later, City want a penalty as Cherki is bundled over just before hitting a shot in the area. It’ll be checked!
Chris Wilson4 January 2026 18:52
18 minutes ago
Man City 1-0 Chelsea
57 mins
City almost create a chance as Haaland looks to latch onto a through ball in the box, but Badiashile does well to divert it out for a corner.
The set-piece comes to nothing as Foden loops a header to Jorgensen.
Chris Wilson4 January 2026 18:50
21 minutes ago
Man City 1-0 Chelsea
55 mins
Chelsea have settled in this half and of course should be level, but they continue to work for an equaliser. Pedro baits Dias into a yellow card as he tries to get past the Portuguese.
Elsewhere, Reece James was also given a yellow card for an accumulation of fouls.
Chris Wilson4 January 2026 18:47
22 minutes ago
Man City 1-0 Chelsea
52 mins
Josko Gvardiol has just been forced off with what looks like an ankle injury, and he’s replaced by Abdukodir Khusanov.
Chris Wilson4 January 2026 18:46
26 minutes ago
Pedro Neto squanders glorious chance as City unravel early against Blues
49 mins
So it’s Malo Gusto over to the right…
And it should be 1-1!
Magic footwork from Enzo Fernandez, Palmer led the counter-attack, Gvardiol was down hurt during the move, too.
Then Pedro Neto is picked out by the Argentine, but the side-footed finish is sliced over, it’s a really poor finish.
Jack Rathborn4 January 2026 18:42
1
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More aboutManchester CityChelsea FCEnzo MarescaPep GuardiolaArsenal
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