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The main talking points from Chelsea's draw with Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium with interim head coach Calum McFarlane given a dream evening in the north west
Calum McFarlane's Chelsea side salvaged a late point against Manchester City on Sunday evening with life post-Enzo Maresca getting off to a fittingly dramatic start.
The Blues have not beaten City since 2021 - that infamous night in Porto - and that wait goes on. Tijani Reijnders gave City a first-half lead but Chelsea had a glorious opportunity to level moments into the second period, but it was wasted by Pedro Neto.
Deep into stoppage time, Chelsea found an unlikely leveller in Manchester. Enzo Fernandez got on the end of a Malo Gusto cross to send the away end into pandemonium and earn McFarlane a point against one of the best sides in the Premier League.
football.london's Chelsea correspondent Bobby Vincent assesses the action from the Etihad...
McFarlane's first taste
In terms of challenges, your first senior match as a manager/head coach does not come any bigger than taking on Pep Guardiola away from home. There didn't seem to be too much fear from McFarlane, though, with Chelsea operating with a high line against a very dangerous City attack, though there seemed to be an extra defender at times with the interim boss looking to keep things tight.
The Under-21s head coach was out in his technical area at the Etihad for plenty of the game it felt like. Although it is a big technical area at the Etihad, so he quite often had to go back towards the bench to speak to those around him. Helped by the likes of Bernardo Cueva (set-piece coach), Andy Ross, James Simmonds (both U21s assistants) and Adam Keep (U21 analyst), it would have been one hell of an experience for McFarlane in Manchester. One he will never forget.
Especially because of the way it ended. That is what football is all about.
Fighting performance
The early signs were good from Chelsea. They applied some early pressure on the Man City goal. Josh Acheampong, who started at right-back, came close within the first few minutes with a header from a corner.
Estevao Willian, meanwhile, was being pushed right back on the right-hand side. It almost looked as if the Brazilian was playing right wing-back at times to deal with the threat of Nico O'Reilly. Estevao was able to get forward as well, though, and had a really good opportunity inside the opening 20 minutes, but the 18-year-old's shot was blocked by Josko Gvardiol.
Around 25 minutes in, Neto swapped sides with Estevao, perhaps because of the Portuguese winger having more in the tank. Neto is a really hard worker out of possession and was tasked with keeping an eye on the attack-minded O'Reilly.
Quite often when Chelsea got the ball back in their own half, they would look for a ball over the top of City's defence. Sometimes it was for Malo Gusto and other times it was for Estevao or Joao Pedro. The away side were having no luck with it, though, and City's defenders caught on to their opposition's plan quite early on at the Etihad.
It was all looking quite positive for the visitors up until around 38 minutes. Erling Haaland came to life. The Premier League's top goal scorer had two chances in quick succession and that changed something in the game.
Haaland saw a deflected effort well saved by Filip Jorgensen, in for the injured Robert Sanchez, before going even closer a few moments later. The Norwegian smashed the inside of the post with the majority of the Etihad Stadium celebrating thinking he had done what he does best.
It wasn't long, though, before City did have the advantage. Benoit Badiashile gifted City possession in a dangerous area with some really sloppy play. Reijnders then took on Badiashile, who was scrambling back, before smashing the ball past Jorgensen.
Andrey Santos replaced Estevao at half-time for Chelsea, with McFarlane changing the shape slightly. The early signs, again, were good. Neto missed a glorious chance to level the match in the opening exchanges of the half after the Blues broke in numbers.
Finally, Chelsea had a breakthrough. And they deserved it. All their fight and heart paid off when Enzo Fernandez, on the third time of asking, found an equaliser for the Blues on 94 minutes.
Rosenior challenge awaits
Liam Rosenior is very much expected to become Chelsea's new permanent head coach. The 41-year-old Strasbourg boss emerged as the overwhelming favourite moments after Maresca left the club earlier in the week and the Blues have held talks with him over the last few days.
Supporters are sceptical when it comes to Rosenior, who has a big job on his hands in terms of winning the Stamford Bridge faithful over. The enormity of the task presented to the former Hull City boss is not just in relation to winning over the fans, though, it is also to try and get the squad he inherits to completely buy into his style of football.
The 'new manager bounce' seems to be less of a thing in football these days, but how Chelsea could do with one of them right about now.
There were moments of sloppy play from Chelsea in Manchester. Coming up against such a strong team, in the moment they are in, it was always going to happen. But those players showed heart and fight on Sunday evening.
Rosenior should know, when he does eventually take over at Stamford Bridge, he should get the buy in from the squad. They seemed ready to fight for McFarlane, who they have worked with since Friday.
There remains a togetherness within the Chelsea squad; encapsulated by the fact Levi Colwill, out with a long-term injury, Robert Sanchez, missing with a minor fitness problem and Moises Caicedo, who served his one-match suspension on Sunday, travelled to the Etihad with the rest of the squad to offer their support. The conditions were not pleasant to sit in, either.
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