Chelsea's Enzo Fernandez in action with Manchester City's Bernardo Silva and Manchester City's Erling Haaland.
Credit: Reuters photo
Manchester: Chelsea's Enzo Fernandez scored a smash-and-grab goal deep in injury time to salvage a 1-1 draw with Manchester City on Sunday that cost Pep Guardiola's men precious points in the Premier League title race.
City appeared to have victory all but sewn up with Tijjani Reijnders striking late in the first half. But Fernandez sent City fans home angry when he scored in the 94th minute after Malo Gusto's cross deflected off Nathan Ake into his path at the far post.
Fernandez mis-hit his first shot and goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma saved his second, but the Argentine midfielder's third attempt pushed the ball over the line.
City are second in the table, level on 42 points with third-placed Aston Villa and six behind leaders Arsenal. Chelsea, who arrived at Etihad Stadium at the end of a turbulent week that saw the club part ways with manager Enzo Maresca on New Year's Day, are fifth on 31 points.
Chelsea's defence stood strong against an onslaught of City advances until Reijnders broke the deadlock in the 42nd minute when a pass to Erling Haaland bounced to the Dutch midfielder, who fired a left-footed shot into the roof of the net.
City had 14 shots to Chelsea's eight and squandered some brilliant chances, leaving Guardiola, who had his hands on his head in frustration for much of the night, ruing the misses.
Haaland had five shots alone, including one that had fans leaping to their feet in celebration before it rang off the inside of the far post and out.
Phil Foden and Bernardo Silva also narrowly missed for City, who are unbeaten in the league in eight games but have had two consecutive draws after their 0-0 stalemate at Sunderland on Thursday.
"(Chelsea) are a world champion team. It's not an academy team. Ninety minutes against them is tough," Guardiola said. "We missed chances in the second half. We challenged players to finish the game and we could not do it.
"When you talk about all the stats, one is how effective you are in the final third. But in general how we ran and played was okay."
A positive for City was the performance of Ballon d'Or winner Rodri, whose poise and line-breaking passes were noticeable in his first start in three months. He had the most touches of any City player.
City lost defender Josko Gvardiol to injury early in the second half and Ruben Dias late in the game. Gvardiol struggled to put weight on his leg as Chelsea captain Reece James helped him off the pitch.
"Apparently it doesn't look good, we will see tomorrow," Guardiola said of the injuries. "I think they will be on the sidelines for a few weeks."
Chelsea's interim manager Calum McFarlane said the night was the stuff of dreams.
"For me personally it was amazing, stuff you dream about. Pep Guardiola, Premier League game, amazing," he said.
"I'm really proud of the performance, I thought the character the lads showed, especially in the second half... I would've been so happy regardless. It's even better we got the equaliser I thought we deserved.
"Everyone thought we were coming here to lose, everyone," he added. "No-one thought we stood a chance. But we knew that the character and the talent in this group, and they've really dragged it through. So I can't speak highly enough about the characters in the group."