Manchester City defy The Erling Haaland Haaland Problem with Premier League win over Chelsea

Pep Guardiola's Manchester City team is thrilling and brilliant most of the time, but sometimes they stutter. Last night against Chelsea, Guardiola sent his team out to play in the wrong positions.

Chelsea's squad is injured. Raheem Sterling, Christian Pulisic and Diego Costa are injured, but Potter's job is safe for the moment. The kids came on and they played well. Darijo Srna, the director of Shakhtar Donetsk, was at the game. There were also conversations about Mykhaylo Mudryk and Enzo Fernandez. Manchester United have a busy few weeks coming up. They have FA Cup today, Carabao Cup next Tuesday, then a double-header against first and second in the Premier League. They also have to play Barcelona. Erik ten Hag will not be rushing Jadon Sancho back from his isolated rehabilitation.

Leeds United are playing Cardiff City in the FA Cup third round on Sunday. Leeds were top of the Premiership at the time, while Cardiff were mid-table in League One. Fernando Duarte remembers going to the pub with then-Brazil captain Socrates after his cameo for Garforth Town. Socrates didn't watch the 1982 World Cup final because he couldn't bear to watch it. Everton begin the weekend's cup festivities with a trip to Manchester United. If Everton get anything out of their hosts, it won't count as a giant-killing. Frank Lampard will be surprised. He is a big fan of Italy.

Manchester City beat Chelsea 2-0.