Chelsea find Liam Rosenior's secret weapon in Man City draw

Cameron Smith

• 5 Jan 2026 09:36 CST
• 4 min read

Analysis

Chelsea turned up to the Etihad Stadium on Sunday evening with little expectation or pressure to beat the eight-time Premier League champions Manchester City.

After all, interim boss Calum McFarlane was given just three days to prepare for the game following the departure of Enzo Maresca, while key players Levi Colwill, Moises Caicedo, Marc Cucurella, Wesley Fofana and Robert Sanchez were all missing.

Current ETV

Andrey Santos

M, DM (C)

Chelsea

Andrey Santos

M, DM (C)

Chelsea

€46.4M

ETV Range

€41.7M - €51M

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What followed was a tepid first-half display that saw Man City cruise into a 1-0 lead without so much as breaking a sweat. Pep Guardiola’s side exerted minimal effort, but they were completely dominant as they pinned Chelsea deep into their own half.

The Blues enjoyed just 32% possession during the first 45 minutes, with Estevao Willian and Pedro Neto both forced into extremely defensive positions to thwart the attacking endeavours of Man City full-backs Nico O’Reilly and Matheus Nunes.

In all honesty, Chelsea were fortunate to only be 1-0 down, with Erling Haaland crashing an effort off the post and several other chances going begging.

During the half-time break, McFarlane opted to take off the aforementioned Estevao, who was incredibly ineffective, and replace him with his compatriot Andrey Santos.

The alteration led to a change of shape, with Malo Gusto and Neto essentially deployed as wing-backs, Santos accompanying Reece James, Enzo Fernandez and Cole Palmer in midfield, and Joao Pedro leading the line.

The result? A much improved Chelsea performance that saw them create three big chances, register 1.66 xG and eventually snatch a point thanks to a 94th minute Enzo Fernandez equaliser.

Liam Delap and Jorrel Hato both impressed off the bench, but it was Santos’ introduction that ultimately altered the game in an extremely positive manner for Chelsea.

The Brazilian returned to Stamford Bridge in June, following a hugely successful loan spell at Strasbourg, and he was expected to play a key role this term. But, Maresca was reluctant to use the 21-year-old and he racked up just 441 minutes of Premier League action during the opening 19 fixtures.

In McFarlane’s first game in charge, however, Santos was a game-changer.

The 21-year-old sat in a deep-lying midfield role upon his introduction into the match, which eased the defensive pressure on James and Fernandez, and allowed Chelsea to squeeze up the pitch.

A man-to-man marking system was deployed during the second 45 minutes and while this could’ve caused considerable defensive issues for Chelsea, Man City created less than 0.3 xG in the second period.

Santos won five of his eight contested duels and registered four defensive contributions, but it was his impact in possession that gave Chelsea the platform to actually attack. In the first-half, the Blues resorted to speculative long balls aimed at Pedro, with Man City’s press suffocating them into conceding control.

Santos changed that entirely. He completed 28 of his 31 attempted passes and Chelsea were able to build phases of play from the back on a far more consistent basis thanks to the Brazil international.

McFarlane even admitted as much during his post-match press conference, telling reporters: “I thought Andrey was exceptional. I thought he really, really controlled the middle of the pitch.”

Andrey Santos set for key role under Liam Rosenior

Santos’ performance couldn’t have come at a better time, with his former Strasbourg boss Liam Rosenior set to be appointed as Chelsea’s new manager this week.

The 21-year-old played a starring role for the Ligue 1 outfit last season, registering 16 goal contributions in 34 games, and a reunion with Rosenior could be the catalyst for his Chelsea career taking off.

Of course, the aforementioned Caicedo was unavailable versus Man City due to suspension and will likely come back into the starting XI moving forward, but Santos has proven that he is ready for a prominent role at Chelsea, especially under Rosenior.

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