MANCHESTER: Managerless Chelsea handed London rivals Arsenal a welcome boost in the Premier League title race as Enzo Fernandez struck a stoppage-time equaliser that prevented Manchester City closing the gap at the top to four points on Sunday.

City led through a Tijjani Reijnders goal in the first half and it looked like being enough for them to cut into Arsenal’s lead at the summit, but Fernandez pounced to give Chelsea a worthy 1-1 draw, three days after the club sacked coach Enzo Maresca.

Fernandez’s goal at a freezing Etihad Stadium means Arsenal end a packed festive programme with a six-point lead. They have 48 points from 20 games with City and Aston Villa on 42.

Pep Guardiola’s City had ramped up the pressure on Arsenal with a six-game winning run and were within touching distance heading into Christmas prior to drawing a blank in a 0-0 draw at Sunderland on January 1.

And their hunt of Arsenal has come off the rails in four damaging days for City in more ways than one.

On top of four dropped points, centre-backs Josko Gvardiol and Ruben Dias limped off in the second half against Chelsea to leave Guardiola with threadbare options at the back.

“Of course I have concerns. Have you seen the bench today? It’s three players for the academy and now we will have more,” said Guardiola. “We don’t have players. That is the truth.”

During his trophy-littered decade in charge, Guardiola has made a habit of constantly rotating his City sides to keep his players as fresh as possible.

That has changed this season. His consistency of selection helped bring City back into title contention after losing two of their first three games of the campaign.

But they appear to be running out of gas in the midst of English football’s gruelling winter schedule.

City have played just two of their nine games in January with trips to Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool to follow in early February.

“It’s frustrating of course but at the end it is what it is,” City midfielder Rodri, whose return to action after injury is some comfort for Guardiola, said. “We created enough chances to win the game three or four nil, but this is football.”

Just days after Chelsea parted company with Maresca, the Blues were managed by Under-21 coach Calum McFarlane.

McFarlane will never forget his first senior match as a manager after frustrating the decorated Guardiola.

But despite the damage McFarlane inflicted on Guardiola’s title dreams, Strasbourg boss Liam Rosenior remains the leading candidate to replace Maresca on a permanent basis.

“Chelsea is a world champion team. It is not academy players there. Top class players. So to have control for 90 minutes against a team is so, so difficult,” Guardiola said. “We missed chances in the second half. Our talented players tried to finish the game but we could not do that.”

City, who host Brighton & Hove Albion on Wednesday, will hope for a favour from Liverpool on Thursday when Arne Slot’s men face Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium.

“We recover people and we see on Wednesday,” Guardiola said of City’s title chances.

Published in Dawn, January 6th, 2026