Poor decisions in the final third and poor finishing has cost Manchester City

Following last night’s 1-all draw with Chelsea, Manchester City have now drawn their past two Premier League matches. Pep Guardiola’s side drew nil-all with Sunderland and followed that up with last night’s result. Across Manchester City’s past two matches, bad luck, poor finishing, and poor decision making and execution have cost City dearly. This especially stood out last night at the Etihad.

Manchester City failed to create decent chances from the openings they created, especially in the second-half against Chelsea.

Pep Guardiola’s side should have at least been 2-nil up at halftime of last night’s match against Chelsea. A few minutes before Tijjani Reijnders scored for City, Erling Haaland smacked the post with a vicious curling effort. Prior to that, Bernardo Silva also hit an effort just over the bar. These things can happen in football. Manchester City did all they could against Sunderland but score. In the second-half of last night’s match against Calum McFarlane’s Chelsea side, City created the openings to end last night’s match. They failed to create any quality chances from the openings they created, which cost them two points when Enzo Fernandez equalised for Chelsea.

As Manchester City attacked in the second half, they couldn’t find the killer blow to finish off Chelsea. Erling Haaland made two surging runs early in the second-half that were cut out by some brilliant Chelsea defending. Haaland at full steam with the ball at his feet is one of the most unstoppable forces in football. Credit has to go to Chelsea defender Josh Acheampong for his challenge on Haaland on the first instance and to Benoit Badiashile for his block on Haaland’s shot after his second driving run. Not much can be done in these instances, but praise the Chelsea defence. However, two players who are the creative hub of Pep Guardiola’s side failed to have the impact expected of them.

Across the second half, Rayan Cherki and Phil Foden got into the spaces that they typically thrive in. But their decision-making and final ball were off. Cherki wasn’t at his best throughout last night’s match. He took too long in possession, and on two separate occasions in each half, this cost him the opportunity to shoot. Cherki’s end product with his final ball wasn’t there in what was a frustrating performance for the French international. Cherki has been superb for Manchester City recently, and he was due an off night performance wise, which occurred last night.

The problem for Manchester City was that Phil Foden wasn’t at his best last night either. Foden put one shot inches wide in the first-half of last night’s match. He also skied a right-footed volley wide. But that particular volley wasn’t a major concern. What occurred in the second-half proved to be costly. Foden got himself into several dangerous positions. In one instance, he only had to beat Benoit Badiashile to set Erling Haaland free in the middle with a ball from the left. Unfortunately, Foden’s ball was cut out, and a golden opportunity for Manchester City was gone.

The second chance Foden missed was the opportunity to play Cherki into space on the right as Manchester City attacked. While I don’t agree with the caption below, the image shows what Foden chose instead of playing the simple option. Foden chose to try a difficult ball to Haaland instead of the simple ball to Cherki. The Chelsea defence snuffed out that ball, and Rayan Cherki’s frustration was clear to see. That moment best summed up Manchester City’s attacking display, and it proved to be so costly come the final whistle.

📸 – FODEN REFUSED TO PASS IT TO CHERKI HERE!

CHERKI CAN’T BELIEVE IT! pic.twitter.com/MyQE3rrFKu

— The Touchline | 𝐓 (@TouchlineX) January 4, 2026

Summary.

Phil Foden and Rayan Cherki weren’t at their best last night in Manchester City’s 1-all draw with Chelsea. The pair were below their usual high standards, and it helped contribute to Manchester City failing to convert good openings into quality chances and goals. It proved to be costly come the final whistle as Pep Guardiola’s side dropped two crucial points. City also failed to take their chances against Sunderland and the result is that City have now dropped four points in their past two matches. The hope is that Foden and Cherki, and the Manchester City attack in general can return to form against Brighton on Wednesday night at the Etihad. They simply have to, to help City to return to winning ways.