Pep Guardiola praised fantastic Phil Foden and said the Manchester City midfielder is developing into a world-class player after his wonderful, derby-winning display against Manchester United.
Nobody expected anything other than embarrassment at the Etihad Stadium for Erik ten Hag’s stumbling Red Devils, yet Marcus Rashford’s scorcher gave them a shock half-time lead.
United were under the cosh for large periods before and after the break, finally buckling as 23-year-old Foden scored a superb leveller in the 56th minute before then firing City ahead 10 minutes from time.
Erling Haaland added gloss in stoppage time but there was no doubt who the star of the show was in Sunday’s important 3-1 victory for Guardiola’s title-chasing team.
“He is right now this season (one of the best players in the Premier League),” the City boss said of man-of-the-match Foden.
“He’s been the best so far. I always had the feeling he would score goals, in training sessions, always I had the feeling but now he is winning games.
“To become a world-class player at that age you have to win games and he always played good, always had an incredible work ethic. Doesn’t matter what position, he doesn’t complain.
“He lives to play football but now he is winning games. He played a false nine at Bournemouth and was unbelievable. Today after he missed the first chance against (Andre) Onana he became a little bit anxious. That is for his age, he will learn on that.
“But Rashford scored an unbelievable goal and Phil scored an unbelievable goal too.”
Foden helped the treble winners get out of a hole on Sunday after City fell behind for the 12th time in the league this season.
It was their first-ever Premier League comeback win against United and means they have recovered 21 points from losing positions this term.
The result put them back within one point of leaders Liverpool ahead of next weekend’s mouth-watering battle between the sides at Anfield.
“We have Copenhagen on our mind and we will have time after to talk about Liverpool,” Guardiola said ahead of Wednesday’s Champions League last-16 second leg at the Etihad Stadium.
“We have a lot of points still to play for and different places to go.”
United bowed out of Europe before Christmas so there are no distractions before Saturday lunchtime’s return to Premier League action at home to embattled Everton.
The injury-hit Red Devils have regressed during Ten Hag’s second season and sit an eye-watering 19 points behind leaders Liverpool, who they face in the FA Cup quarter-finals.
Similarly concerning is the fact that sixth-placed United are 11 points off Aston Villa in fourth and six behind fifth-placed Tottenham, which could yet be enough for Champions League qualification.
But Ten Hag does not believe United are that far behind City when not beset by injuries and felt key decisions hurt his battling side on Sunday.
“On defining moments, we didn’t have it on our side because just before the 1-1, I think Rashford was on another break,” Ten Hag said.
“And just before 2-1, there was (Alejandro) Garnacho in a breakthrough. I think we were really close to win or at least get a draw here.
“I will not say it was a tackle (on Rashford) from Kyle Walker. They both run, but Rashy confirmed to me it was contact.
“I saw it back, it was very soft, but you will understand when you are on a full-speed run, if you get a little touch then you are out of control and I think that is what happened.”
Asked if this match highlighted a chasm between the teams, under-fire Ten Hag said: “No, I don’t think so. Absolutely not. We have many problems in injuries and, still, we had an opportunity because it was really small margins.
“We could have scored a second goal in a debatable moment and in the second debatable moment, so you see it’s not that big. Especially when we have everyone on board we can be competitive.
“I think also we showed, for instance, in the cup final against them when it’s really close but don’t forget City, in this moment, are the best team in the world.”
Hurzeler keen to show response after learning from first Brighton loss
Fabian Hurzeler said Brighton will learn from their first loss under him as they aim to bounce back against Tottenham in the Premier League.
The Seagulls had enjoyed an unbeaten start under the German in all competitions, going unbeaten in his first seven matches.
However, after winning their opening two Premier League games, they drew three in a row before suffering that 4-2 defeat to Chelsea last weekend.
Hurzeler was not shying away from the poor result though, instead looking for the positives they can build on before the international break.
"It's very important after defeat that you are honest to yourself, you reflect on yourself, what was good, what was not good in the game," Hurzeler said.
"If you lose a game, of course, there are more negative points.
"But there were also some positive things. In the end, we have to learn from it; I have to learn from it because I was the responsible person for the match plan and the match plan wasn't good enough. Now we try to show a reaction."
Meanwhile, Spurs have won their last five matches in all competitions, impressively brushing aside Manchester United 3-0 in the Premier League last weekend before beating Ferencvaros 2-1 in the Europa League on Thursday.
They will most likely be without captain Son Heung-min again for the trip to Brighton, but Ange Postecoglou believes Spurs are settling into the style of play.
"It is always a shifting measurement," he said. "Any time you go on a consistent run of form - and I think we have been consistent all year, but the results in the past five games have rewarded the performances.
"We are a developing side, still very much a young side. The squad is still developing together, so it suggests whatever markers we set we should be able to exceed.
"We have had belief, the energy accelerates, and the key is to keep it going. You don't want to let it go."
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Brighton – Carlos Baleba
After not scoring or assisting in any of his first 31 Premier League appearances, Carlos Baleba scored and assisted in their 4-2 defeat to Chelsea.
He is the youngest Cameroonian to both score and assist in a Premier League match (20 years, 269 days).
Tottenham – Dominic Solanke
Since the start of last season, the only Englishmen with more Premier League goals than Dominic Solanke (21) are Cole Palmer (28) and Ollie Watkins (23).
The Spurs forward is looking to find the net in three consecutive appearances for the first time since December 2023 before heading to meet up with England during the international break.
MATCH PREDICTION: TOTTENHAM WIN
Just one of the 14 Premier League meetings between Brighton and Tottenham has finished as a draw (1-1 in April 2018), with Spurs winning nine to the Seagulls' four.
However, after losing consecutive Premier League home games against Spurs without scoring in 2021-22 and 2022-23, Brighton won this exact fixture 4-2 last season.
Brighton won six of their first 10 Premier League games in October (D2 L2) between 2017 and 2019 but have since won just one out of 16 October games since 2020 (D9 L6), a 4-1 win over Chelsea in 2022.
And given recent form, that run may continue, as the Seagulls have drawn their last two home Premier League matches, last drawing three in a row in November 2023. Indeed, since the start of last season, no side has drawn more home games than Brighton (8).
Tottenham, meanwhile, have won their last two Premier League games, last winning three in a row in December last year. Spurs have netted three goals in each victory (3-1 vs Brentford, 3-0 vs Man Utd), but have not won three consecutively while scoring 3+ goals since April 2022.
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
Brighton – 34.2%
Draw – 23.9%
Tottenham – 42%
Maresca calls on goal-happy Chelsea to tighten up versus Forest
Enzo Maresca has been delighted with Chelsea's attacking prowess in the early weeks of his reign but says they have much to improve at the other end ahead of hosting Nottingham Forest.
Maresca has made a strong start to life at Stamford Bridge, with the Blues unbeaten in five Premier League matches (four wins, one draw) since a matchday one defeat to Manchester City.
No team's Premier League games have produced more goals than Chelsea's so far in 2024-25, with Maresca's men scoring 15 times and conceding seven.
Forest's games, meanwhile, have contained the fewest goals of any side in the top flight (11, six for and five against).
Chelsea edged another goalfest on Thursday as they beat Gent 4-2 in the Europa Conference League, leading Maresca to call for defensive improvements.
"I think we are performing very positively, especially in attack, it's going very well so we are happy," Maresca said.
"As I said many times already, for sure there are always things we can do better. We can attack better, we can defend much better.
"But the most important thing we can learn is that we cannot switch off. For their second goal, we saw that the game was already finished.
"If we want to take a step forward, even when you the game is almost finished, you have to continue and not give away another goal, but it was a good performance and result.
Forest, meanwhile, saw their unbeaten start to the campaign halted by Fulham last time out, losing 1-0 in the absence of star midfielder Morgan Gibbs-White, who was suspended after being sent off at Brighton one week earlier.
The England international has told BBC Sport he is working on controlling his temperament, saying: "If I'm at 70% or 60% going into a game, I can't play like that.
"I have to be 150% all the time. I always have to be on it and I like the feeling of having control in a game.
"Sometimes when we're having none of the ball I get frustrated, but that's when the control comes in and to understand what the manager wants from this moment."
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Chelsea – Cole Palmer
Palmer became the first player in Premier League history to score four times in the first half of a game as Chelsea beat Brighton 4-2 last week.
Since his debut for Chelsea in September last year (a home defeat to Forest), Cole Palmer has been involved in more Premier League goals than any other player (43 – 28 goals, 15 assists).
Nottingham Forest – James Ward-Prowse
Forest may need some dead-ball magic if they are to earn a result, and specialist Ward-Prowse has a fine record against the Blues.
Ward-Prowse has been involved in four goals in his last five Premier League starts against Chelsea (two goals, two assists), netting the winner on his last start at Stamford Bridge with Southampton in April 2023.
MATCH PREDICTION – CHELSEA WIN
Forest won this exact fixture 1-0 last season – only once have they ever won consecutive away league games against Chelsea, doing so on their first two visits to Stamford Bridge in 1907 and 1908.
Indeed, Chelsea have won just one of their four Premier League meetings with Forest since the latter returned to the top-flight in 2022 (two draws, one loss), though it was a 3-2 victory in the teams' last such game in May.
However, since their return to the competition, no team has lost more Premier League away games in London than Forest (10).
They have lost each of their last four in the capital, conceding three or more goals each time, which will give an in-form Blues attack plenty of confidence.
Chelsea have won nine of their last 11 Premier League games (one draw, one defeat), netting at least twice in eight of those nine victories. Indeed, the Blues are the top scorers in the league this season (15) and also have the highest shot conversion rate (20.3%).
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
Chelsea – 62.3%
Nottingham Forest – 17.8%
Draw – 19.8%
Rashford withdrawal down to rotation, insists under-fire Ten Hag
Erik ten Hag has insisted Marcus Rashford's half-time withdrawal during Manchester United's draw with Porto was down to a need for rotation, not a statement on his performance.
United are still searching for their first Europa League win of the campaign, after Harry Maguire's late header salvaged a 3-3 draw in Porto on Thursday.
After the Red Devils went 2-0 up through early goals from Rashford and Rasmus Hojlund, a strike from Pepe and a brace from Samu Omorodion had put them on the brink of another humiliating defeat.
To cap United's frustrations, captain Bruno Fernandes was shown a red card for a second successive game after also being dismissed in Sunday's 3-0 loss to Tottenham, having never previously been sent off in any of his first 241 games for United.
It was the decision to substitute Rashford for Alejandro Garnacho, though, that dominated post-match talk, with no United player matching Rashford's eight touches in the Porto box or three successful dribbles all game, despite his early withdrawal.
Speaking to TNT Sports after the game, Ten Hag said: "We have to rotate. Garnacho, we didn't start him, but he had a great game not only Sunday but the whole season.
"We go quickly with a turnaround to Villa and they have had a day longer to recover and we have an away game."
Rashford now has 14 goals in the Europa League, moving him outright fourth in the all-time UEFA Cup/Europa League charts among English players, behind only Martin Chivers (22), Alan Shearer (21) and Jermain Defoe (19).
Asked about the substitution again in his post-match press conference, Ten Hag added: "Yeah, but Garnacho was my best player on Sunday by far and also in many other games.
"I think in the season, as I assess it so far, he is bringing us so far the offensive threat by creating chances, assists, also scoring.
"Garnacho we also have to play as well and we have two very good players over that side."
Pushed on whether the decision had anything to do with Rashford's role in Porto's first goal, which came down the England man's flank, Ten Hag said: "I have to watch it back and I think over the left side definitely we didn't defend well tonight.
"Marcus also played a part in this but, as I say, it had to do with Garnacho and nothing against Rashy."
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