rewrite this title How Chelsea’s ‘nobody’ exposed Enzo Maresca as dispensable

The incomparable against the unknown, the defining manager of the last couple of decades against one who, two days earlier, many Chelsea fans would have struggled to pick out of an identity parade. And yet if it promised to be one of the great managerial mismatches, it instead finished with the supposed nobody being celebrated by the Chelsea faithful.

Arsenal may want to thank him, too. Perhaps the title race was reshaped by Calum McFarlane. Pep Guardiola has had the occasional unlikely nemesis in the past – Nathan Jones once denied him a quadruple – and the latest was a former City academy coach; when Tijjani Reijnders seemed to have earned the Catalan a ninth win in 10 games, Enzo Fernandez instead came up with a 94th-minute leveller. “Everyone thought we were coming here to lose,” said McFarlane. “No one thought we stood a chance.”

So City may have wished Enzo Maresca had not talked himself out of a job. Instead, this became a triumph for perhaps the lowest-profile figure to take charge of a Premier League superclub, however briefly.

McFarlane is not sure if he will spend Wednesday managing Chelsea against Fulham or the Under-21s against Benfica. But the McFarlane era will not be an era. He had been told when he was made the interim to expect a new manager on Monday. If Liam Rosenior is appointed, his reign might only span a few days, and he could get a return ticket to anonymity, but he will always have this afternoon, this point. “For me personally, it was stuff you dream about,” said McFarlane. “It is an honour to play against Pep Guardiola. He is, for me, the best manager who has ever managed.”

The sight of the former City academy coach on the touchline with Guardiola, as both equals and opposites, was surreal; for McFarlane, too. But the curiosity value gave way to a contest. The nobody held the somebody. McFarlane deployed two gameplans, the first negative, the second counterattacking, each with some skill. He changed the game.

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He ended it pushed forward by captain Reece James to receive the travelling supporters’ acclaim. “I didn’t want to do that,” said the self-effacing McFarlane. “It shouldn’t be about me.”

But it was about him. He ensured Chelsea, who have not beaten City since the 2021 Champions League final, did not lose it. City were unconvincing in a match they were expected to dominate. They had looked vulnerable in the second half. They ended without both of their centre-backs, a seemingly damaging day seeing first Josko Gvardiol limp off with a knee problem and then Ruben Dias going off injured. Guardiola is particularly worried about the Croatian. “It doesn’t look good,” he said.

With Nathan Ake and Abdukodir Khusanov in defence, Fernandez finished at the third attempt, his first two denied by Matheus Nunes and Gianluigi Donnarumma, after a cross from Malo Gusto. And he, in turn, had been shifted to the right, as Fernandez was pushed into the No 10 role, by McFarlane in the half-time rejig.

It was transformative. He had begun with an understandable defensiveness, Chelsea losing not just Maresca but the injured Robert Sanchez and Marc Cucurella, the banned Moises Caicedo and the ill Wesley Fofana. Lacking their manager, best goalkeeper, centre-back, left-back and defensive midfielder, they pursued a policy of containment.

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They denied City a shot in the first 19 minutes, one on target in the opening 37. A goal down at half-time, McFarlane, who had retained Maresca’s preferred 4-2-3-1 formation, altered tack in other respects. “The shape change really helped us,” said McFarlane.

He was proactive. He brought Andrey Santos on at the interval and switched his full-backs – Gusto, one of three right-backs to start, had begun on the left – and Chelsea acquired a threat. They could have levelled soon, Pedro Neto scooping a shot over. They might have done so later when the substitute Liam Delap thudded a shot into Donnarumma’s chest. They did at the last through Fernandez.

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It reflected well on the rookie that he could reorganise the team. Perhaps, Chelsea may think, it shows that Maresca was dispensable, that another could manage these players. At least, for 90 minutes, he ensured that Chelsea did not look a club in crisis.

Some of his players, McFarlane said, were “shocked” by the departure of Maresca. But they regrouped, led off the field by James, Tosin Adarabioyo and Fernandez. On the pitch, they struggled only when City stepped up the pace just before the break. Filip Jorgensen, making his first Premier League start since February, excelled to tip a deflected Erling Haaland effort away. The Norwegian whipped a shot against the inside of the post, but endured a third game without a goal.

But Reijnders did find the net, lashing a left-footed shot in for his third goal in his last four games. City could not add to it. “We were extraordinary in all departments except we could not score a second, third or fourth,” insisted Guardiola, with exaggerated praise. But there was a slackness to City. They may have wished they had fast-tracked the signing of Antoine Semenyo. There was a slackness and a slowness to their performance, whereas Chelsea showed a unity. And the side with no manager stopped the team with the man McFarlane deems the best to ever do it.