Kovacic scores as Man City beat Chelsea
Mateo Kovacic scored against his former club as Manchester City won at Stamford Bridge in Enzo Maresca’s first match as Chelsea boss.
The champions went ahead through Erling Haaland’s first-half goal and their victory was sealed by Kovacic’s late strike.
As Bernardo Silva stretched to meet Jeremy Doku’s ball in from the left he nudged the ball towards Haaland, who held off Marc Cucurella and dinked the ball past keeper Robert Sanchez.
Chelsea then had a goal disallowed when Nicolas Jackson strayed marginally offside before tapping in the loose ball after Cole Palmer’s shot had been parried by keeper Ederson.
In the second half, City also had a goal disallowed when Rico Lewis fired into the net after Haaland had fouled Levi Colwill.
Maresca sent summer signings Pedro Neto, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and Marc Guiu on for their debuts as Chelsea chased an equaliser – Jackson missed their best chance when he could not find a way past Edersen from close range.
With Ben Chilwell having been left out of the squad along with the likes of Raheem Sterling, Renato Veiga also ended up making his debut after Cucurella limped off late on.
Any real hope of a Chelsea comeback was crushed by Kovacic’s goal, which came after the Blues gave the ball away.
Kovacic darted towards the penalty area, away from Moises Caicedo and Enzo Fernandez, and his shot should have been stopped by Sanchez, who could only palm the ball into the net.
Chelsea: Sanchez, Gusto, Fofana, Colwill, Cucurella (Veiga 81), Lavia (Dewsbury-Hall 67), Caicedo, Fernandez, Palmer, Jackson (Guiu 67), Nkunku (Neto 58).
Subs not used: Jorgensen; Badiashile, Tosin, Madueke, Mudryk.
