Pep Guardiola was a relieved man as his Manchester City side recovered from an early horror show by new signing Abdukodir Khusanov to beat Chelsea 3-1 and leapfrog their opponents into the top four.
A defensive error from Khusanov, signed from Lens at the start of the week, gave Chelsea the lead, before procedding to be substituted early in the second half.
When asked how Khusanov was after he was taken off, Guardiola said: "He doesn't speak English so I didn't speak to him. He'll be fine. He only made one or two training sessions. I didn't want to push John [Stones] returning from injury - with Wednesday's game [against Club Brugge].
“It is not easy for him. He trains once and then to play against [Nicolas] Jackson and Cole [Palmer] and [Noni] Madueke and [Jadon] Sancho. It is a process when you buy a player this young. He will learn. These kinds of actions are the best lesson you can take."
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City equalised through Josko Gvardiol before half-time before second-half goals from Erling Haaland and Phil Foden gave the champions victory in the first of what Guardiola calls two "finals".
The second is Wednesday's home match with Club Brugge in the UEFA Champions League, where after City's 4-2 defeat by Paris Saint-Germain last Wednesday victory is required to progress to the knockout stages.
Guardiola said of the Chelsea match: "Not the best start. Lucky they didn't punish us for 2-0. After we recovered emotionally and made a good performance.
"We had more of the ball than the last games. It was really important."
Marmoush impresses on debut
Khusanov was not the only signing this week to make his debut with Omar Marmoush, who joined from Eintracht Frankfurt, also thrown in from the start. The Egyptian's performance drew praise from his manager.
"Really good," Guardiola said of Marmoush. "That connection with other players and incredible movement. It is the first game and he deals with the change and he makes unbelievable movements."
Haaland was also impressed by the Egyptian’s performance less than a week after joining.
"I have seen him in Bundesliga and watched him," Haaland said. "It is going to be fantastic playing with him. You can see has something special. I am looking forward to playing with him and it is going to be a really good time."
Guardiola allowed himself the chance to look up the table and to third-placed Nottingham Forest, who are three points away, but also was wary of those teams below City especially in-form AFC Bournemouth as his team head to Arsenal next weekend.
| Position Pos | Club | Played Pl | GD | Points Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Liverpool
LIV
|
22 | +33 | 53 |
| 2 |
Arsenal
ARS
|
23 | +23 | 47 |
| 3 |
Nott'm Forest
NFO
|
23 | +6 | 44 |
| 4 |
Man City
MCI
|
23 | +17 | 41 |
| 5 |
Newcastle
NEW
|
23 | +14 | 41 |
| 6 |
Chelsea
CHE
|
23 | +15 | 40 |
"Now we're closer to Nottingham but Bournemouth are on an impressive run," he said.
Asked if more signings were about to land, he replied: "I don't know. What I'd like is to have the main team at the start of the season back."
