Man City vs. Chelsea live score: Premier League result, updates, stats as Reijnders fires Guardiola's men ahead

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ETIHAD STADIUM, MANCHESTER — Chelsea and their rookie interim manager Calum McFarlane will try to disrupt Manchester City's Premier League title bid in a blockbuster early January clash.

Arsenal's hard-fought win at Bournemouth on Saturday put the Gunners seven points ahead of City, having played a game more. Pep Guardiola's men will be keen not to lose any further ground after a frustrating 0-0 draw at Sunderland on New Year's Day.

As recently as a month ago, after impressive performances against Barcelona and Arsenal, Chelsea looked well-placed to enter the title conversation themselves.

But form collapsed as relations between head coach Enzo Maresca and the club hierarchy disintegrated. The 2-2 midweek draw against Bournemouth proved to be Maresca's last at the helm, closing out a year when he led the Blues to UEFA Conference League and FIFA Club World Cup glory.

Life moves fast at Stamford Bridge under Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali, and this could be McFarlane's only game in charge as Strasbourg boss and fellow BlueCo employee Liam Rosenior reportedly waits in the wings.

AllSportsPeople is following the Manchester City vs. Chelsea match live, providing score updates and commentary

Man City vs. Chelsea score

Venue: Etihad Stadium, Manchester
Referee: Michael Oliver

Confirmed lineups:

Man City (4-14-1 right to left): 25. Gianluigi Donnarumma  (GK) — 27. Matheus Nunes, 3. Ruben Dias (6. Nathan Ake), 24. Josko Gvardiol (45. Abdukodir Khusanov), 33. Nico O'Reilly  — 16. Rodri — 10. Rayan Cherki, 47. Phil Foden, 20. Bernardo Silva, 4. Tijjani Reijnders (11. Jeremy Doku) —  9. Erling Haaland,

Chelsea (4-2-3-1 right to left): 12. Filip Jorgensen (GK) — 34. Josh Acheampong (21 Jorrel Hato), 5. Benoit Badiashile, 23. Trevoh Chalobah, 27. Malo Gusto — 8. Enzo Fernandez, 24. Reece James — 41. Estevao (17. Andrey Santos), 10. Cole Palmer, 7. Pedro Neto — 20. Joao Pedro (9. Liam Delap)

Keep track of every game and every goal via SN's live Premier League scoreboard

MORE: Why did Chelsea sack Enzo Maresca?

Man City vs. Chelsea live updates, highlights, and commentary

90+1 mins: Six minutes added on for Chelsea to find an equaliser. James clobbering a free-kick into Donnarumma's gloves from 40 yards isn't the best start to those endeavours.

89 mins: Chelsea try to fashion an attack. Delap can't get the shot off and it pops up to Donnarumma. The City goalkeeper's distribution is then poor but his team see off the threat.

81 mins: City will have to see this one out without both of their starting centre-backs as Dias makes his way down the tunnel. Ake on for the final knockings.

78 mins: Delap tries to get a run on Khusanov, who sticks with the hulking Chelsea striker and shepherds it out for a goal kick. Delap shoves the City player off the pitch and his one-time team mate Silva is enraged, shoving the No. 9 repeatedly despite being roughly half his size. At the end of it all, Nunes and Delap. Fernandez and Nunes got involved in some of their own nonsense. Bernardo clearly got an invisibility cloak for Christmas.

75 mins: Foden darts down the left channel. Looks for Haaland when he might have shot and Badiashile clears behind. 

72 mins: Delap pins Khusanov and spins away. He fires goalwards left-footed from a tight angle and Donnarumma saves.

70 mins: City change as the goalscorer Reijnders makes way for Doku.

69 mins: Route one City. Donnarumma flings a ball downfield to Haaland, whose flick on has Cherki scampering. He looks inside for Silva. It's not a great pass and Hato makes a vital sliding challenge.

67 mins Neto thinks he'll have a shooting chance but Nunes sticks to his task well. O'Reilly then shuts the door on Gusto. Excellent tenacity from City's converted full-backs.

62 mins: Double Chelsea changes. Delap and Hato on for Joao Pedro and Acheampong.

59 mins: City suddenly looking very dangerous in transition. Reijnders is in down the left. He finds Cherki, whose touch isn't up to scratch. He wants a penalty after James' challenge but already looked to be on the way down.

58 mins: Haaland once again tearing at a scattering defence with the ball at his feet. There's a Chelsea block in the way.

57 mins: The second corner is deep for Dias, whose header loops into Jorgensen's gloves.

55 mins: Haaland on the charge and Acheampong sticks to his task well with a lunging challenge. Corner, headed behind. Foden gets another go.

54 mins: Dias with a cynical bodycheck on Joao Pedro and he's booked. City have been ragged since the break.

53 mins: Cherki, who hasn't entirely been at the races today. Sees his free-kick easily cleared.

52 mins: Rodri wins a free-kick. Guardiola takes the opportunity of the break to get a message to Haaland, via Donnarumma.

51 mins: Gvardiol's race is run following that challenge from Gusto. On comes Abdukodir Khusanov, who infamously had a complete nightmare on his debut in this fixture a year ago.

49 mins: Gvardiol is down in a heap in the centre circle. That seemingly leaves Reijnders in two minds as to whether to put the ball out or not. He elects to pass to Rodri and it's horribly under-hit. Chelsea are able to drive forward, first through Palmer, who finds Fernandez. His cut back cramps Neto for room and hs shoots over.

47 mins: Poor pass from O'Reilly leaves City in a spot of bother but the youngster gets back to get half a block on Neto's cross, with Donnarumma claims.

Kickoff: 2nd Half

We're back underway and there's a Chelsea change, with Andrey Santos on for the ineffective Esteavo. It looks like that means Palmer switching to the right wing.

Halftime

Gvardiol gets up to a near-post corner, it falls to Foden on his weaker foot and the England man shanks over. That'll be that. Chelsea acquitted themselves very well for the first half hour, with plenty for Calum McFarlane to enjoy. Then City started ramping up the volume. Rodri was excellent, Haaland hit the post and Reijnder rifled them in front.

45 mins: There'll be two added minutes, which has displeased some City fans, given the amount of time Jorgensen has been taking over his goal kicks.

41 mins: GOOOOOAAAAAALLLLLL!!!!! Tijjani Reijnders!!!!!!

Wallop! It's certainly been coming. Cherki takes control of things to orchestrate from midfield. He tries to play in Haaland. Badiashile gets a foot in but Reijnders picks up the pieces and rifles a venomous left-footed strike inside Jorgensen's near post.

Tijjani Reijnders smashes the ball into the roof of the net and Man City lead! 💢 pic.twitter.com/NajQ9CjQFc

— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) January 4, 2026

39 mins: HAALAND HITS THE POST!  City's main man getting closer and closer. O'Reilly wins the ball high up. Rodri slots a pass to Haaland, who arrowed a shot towards the top left corner but it pings to safety off the inside of the post.

38 mins: Fabulous save from Jorgensen! Cherki and Foden with some one-touch magic to give Haaland a chance. His shot is deflected off Chalobah and looks to be looping into the right corner but the Chelsea goalkeeper gets over the push the ball behind. Brilliant stuff. His defence see him through the corner.

36 mins: Silva pulls out to the right and finds some lovely footwork to shuffle past Gusto before curling over the far corner.

33 mins: Nunes fizzes in a cross with some serious juice. Chelsea look for Estevao but Dias intercepts and City get moving again. Cherki's pass cut out in the box but the visitors can't get out at the moment.

32 mins: Rodri again, really starting to purr in possession. He finds Silva to cross for Foden. He gets the header all wrong but then the flag goes up in any case.

30 mins: A couple of spicy challenges in midfeld, from the second of which Rodri goes down in apparent discomfort. James gets a warning but no card.

28 mins: Rodri gets City rolling with a pass through the lines. Badiashile pays close attention to Haaland and deflects his corner behind from Reijnders' cross. There's a big snafu at the near post and Palmer comes away with it before smartly winning a free-kick off Cherki.

25 mins: Haaland just got barrelled over chasing a second ball but gets up to bound around again. Reijnders patriotically win a corner with a Cruyff turn. It comes to nought.

23 mins: O'Reilly looks for Haaland and his cross is blocked. That's a very understandable course of action, but there were players in sky blue better placed at the far post.

21 mins: Now City almost lead. The hosts got direct and Reijnders storms down the left. He finds Foden in the box, whose first touch is delicious to create space, but he then drags the shot just wide.

20 mins: Big chance for Chelsea!  Fernandez disrupts City in midfield and releases Neto. His deflected cross falls for Estevao and Gvardiol makes a fantastic block!

18 mins: Nunes wins the first 50/50 but Fernandez snaffles the second to get Chelsea moving. Joao Pedro thinks he has a route to goal but Rodri has other ideas.

12 mins: Instead of shooting, Cherki whips a dangerous ball towards Gvardiol and Fernandez is alert to clear behind.

11 mins: Cherki skips away from Fernandez and is set tumbling by James. The France playmaker will probably fancy this free-kick.

9 mins: Palmer punished by one of those late offside flags that absolutely infuriates yer Da'.

6 mins: City look to get going, with Reijnders into the box but he's correctly penalised for handball as snow starts to fall.

5 mins: Nunes now finds himself bounced off the ball before a raking ball over the top aimed for the marauding Gusto forces Donnarumma to come out of his box and head clear. It's been a confident cstart from Chelsea.

4 mins: Lovely delivery from James, it's glanced towards the City goalmouth but referee Oliver has spotted something to give the hosts a free-kick.

3 mins: Fernandez nips in to intercept a pass from Cherki meant for Silva in the City right-back area and wins Chelsea a corner

Kickoff: 1st Half

Palmer gets us underway on his old ground.

1 min before kickoff: Both teams and sets of supporters have just observed a moment of appreciation for those associated with Manchester City and Chelsea who died during 2025.

MORE: Phil Foden pays perfect tribute to Ricky Hatton's memory in emotionally weighted Manchester derby

5 mins before kickoff: Here come the teams, out into the icy Manchester early evening.

15 mins before kickoff: City need a win to close the gap to Premier League leaders Arsenal back to four points, but Chelsea can end a manic few days by getting back on track in the congested battle for fourth place. Liverpool and Manchester United could only draw at Leeds and Fulham, respectively. Chelsea are sixth on 30 points, four and one shy of Liverpool and United. But Brentford and Sunderland are level on points with them, Newcastle are one further back and 14th-placed Crystal Palace are only three points behind the Blues.

30 mins before kickoff: It's not just Calum McFarlane with experience of the Manchester City academy among the Chelsea contingent. Cole Palmer famously moved from City to Chelsea for £42.5million in August 2023. Tosin Adarabioyo, Liam Delap and Jamie Gittens did not take the direct route to Stamford Bridge but were all reared at the Etihad Campus.

1 hour before kickoff: Enforced change in goal for Chelsea, with Filip Jorgensen starting. Robert Sanchez is not among a subs bench that features two goalkeepers. Marc Cucurella's absence means Malo Gusto being redeployed to left-back, with Josh Acheampong coming in on the right-hand side of defence. Estevao gets the nod ahead of former Manchester United winger Alejandro Garnacho on the wing.

Tonight’s team news! 🔵#CFC | #MCICHE pic.twitter.com/vekdkThoQa

— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) January 4, 2026

1 hr 15 mins before kickoff: The teams are in and Rodri makes his first Manchester City start for three months, with Nico Gonzalez sidelined. If Pep Guardiola can have his key midfielder fit and on form for the second half of the season, it would be huge. Josko Gvardiol comes back in for Nathan Ake from the side that drew 0-0 at Sunderland, while Tijjani Reijnders in for Savinho is another injury-enforced change.

Your City side to face Chelsea 🩵

XI | Donnarumma, Nunes, Dias, Gvardiol, O'Reilly, Rodri, Bernardo (C), Reijnders, Foden, Cherki, Haaland

SUBS | Trafford, Ake, Doku, Khusanov, McAidoo, Mukasa, Lewis, Mfuni, R. Heskey

🤝 @etihad pic.twitter.com/8rPhMnvfR0

— Manchester City (@ManCity) January 4, 2026

1 hr 40 mins before kickoff: Manchester City's prints are weirdly upon this latest episode of the Chelsea managerial psychodrama. One aspect of Enzo Maresca's Stamford Bridge unravelling was a batch of stories linking him to the Etihad Stadium job as Pep Guardiola's successor, should the Catalan leave City this summer. Guardiola then said he had more or less no intention of doing any such thing, relations between Ex-City assistant Maresca and his Stamford Bridge bosses continued to deteriorate and here we are, with former City academy coach Calum McFarlane leading his first senior game in the visiting dugout.

Getty Images

2 hours before kickoff. Hello and welcome to AllSportsPeople' live coverage of Manchester City vs. Chelsea from St James' Park.

Man City vs. Chelsea kick off time

The Premier League match kicks off in Manchester, UK at 5:30 p.m. Local time.

Here's how that time translates across some of the major territories:

Man City vs. Chelsea lineups, team news

City suffered a couple of injury setbacks at Sunderland last time out, with Nico Gonzalez  and Savinho  forced out of the action. Rodri  and Jeremy Doku  impressed when they replaced their stricken teammates at the Stadium of Light, but it remains to be seen how long each will be able to feature for here, given their own recent spells on the sidelines.

Nathan Ake  was an assured presence on his first start since mid-October. If Guardiola retains the Dutchman alongside Ruben Dias, expect Josko Gvardiol  to return at left-back to give Nico O'Reilly  a breather.

John Stones (thigh), Oscar Bobb (hamstring) and Mateo Kovacic (Achilles) all remain sidelined, with Omar Marmoush  and Rayan Ait-Nouri  on Africa Cup of Nations duty.

Man City starting XI (4-2-2-2, right to left): Donnarumma (GK) — Nunes, Dias, Gvardiol O'Reilly  — Silva, Rodri, Reijnders  — Foden, Cherki — Haaland

Man City subs:  Trafford (GK), Ake, Doku, Khusanov, McAidoo, Mukasa, Lewis, Mfuni, Heskey

Moises Caicedo's fifth booking of the season means the influential midfielder is suspended for this one, compounding Chelsea's pre-match woes.

Captain Reece James  or Andrey Santos  are most likely to play in midfield alongside Enzo Fernandez  in Caicedo's absence.

Marc Cucurella  faces a late fitness check but is expected to start at left-back. Fellow defender Levi Colwill  is out for the season with an ACL injury.

Chelsea predicted starting XI (4-2-3-1 right to left): Jorgensen (GK) — Acheampong, Fofana, Chalobah, Gusto — Fernandez, James — Estevao, Palmer, Neto — Joao Pedro

Chelsea subs: Slonina (GK), Merrick (GK), Adarabioyo, Delap, Gittens, Santos, Hato, Guiu, Garnacho

Man City vs. Chelsea live stream, TV channel

Here is how to watch the match in some of the world's major regions: