Man City v Chelsea live: Late Enzo Fernandez strike stuns hosts to boost Premier League leaders Arsenal

“I think Champions League is realistic for this squad,” Richards says on Sky Sports.

“Chelsea can beat anybody on their day. As shown at the Club World Cup. Top four is realistic. Whether the fans want to hear that or not.

“That’s a realistic target.”

The incomparable against the unknown, the defining manager of the last couple of decades against one who, two days earlier, many Chelsea fans would have struggled to pick out of an identity parade. And yet if it promised to be one of the great managerial mismatches, it instead finished with the supposed nobody being celebrated by the Chelsea faithful.

Arsenal may want to thank him, too. Perhaps the title race was reshaped by Calum McFarlane. Pep Guardiola has had the occasional unlikely nemesis in the past – Nathan Jones once denied him a quadruple – and the latest was a former City academy coach; when Tijjani Reijnders seemed to have earned the Catalan a ninth win in 10 games, Enzo Fernandez instead came up with a 94th-minute leveller. “Everyone thought we were coming here to lose,” said McFarlane. “No one thought we stood a chance.”

"He knows what they expect, he's worked in the group, we hear managers, coaches, there's a difference between the two. I believe they're hiring a coach,” Daniel Sturridge tells Sky Sports.

“It’s a tough job, he has to come in and hit the ground running. It’s happened so fast, that’s what I’m concerned with.

“Young English managers, as a club like Chelsea, few and far between.

“I would love him to do well. The expectation was a change, can we creep to the Champions League, a bit more, show the progress. Top four, now? that’s an achievement. A formation change? Will he work with the players. One thing to deal with.

“Then the expectation from the fanbase, historically what Chelsea do with managers, they’re all legends, but Liam has to come in and earn the respect of the players.”

"In terms of what he's done, Hull, Derby interim... The appointment is bold,” Micah Richards says on Sky Sports.

“It's brave. What he's done at Strasbourg, the style of play, from my sources, Chelsea like him because he plays attacking football.”

"For the two days we worked with them, they're open, I can't speak to my changes more, they bought into it and applied the changes,” McFarlane says.

“The group have been exceptional, as a staff, we couldn't ask for more, no egos, training has been brilliant. Enzo, Reece, Tosin... Levi, Cucu, Moi, the togetherness of the group is exceptional. 1-0 down, interim manager, players injured, the character is exceptional.”

“I really enjoyed it,” McFarlane says. “I'm inexperienced, obviously in the future I'd love to do that.

“But I love my role, I'm just here to support, I'm glad I can do that. My sole focus has been on Man City away.

“I have no idea what happens next, we're in tomorrow, we're training, I'll lead this group until I'm told otherwise."

“90 minutes,” a clearly riled Guardiola says when asked if he was happy with the first half.

“We lose easy balls to Tijjani, but the quality they have...

“The injuries, yes, the game, no, we didn’t suffer.

“Dias and Gvardiol], it doesn’t look good, we’ll see in a few days. It [the pressure] is what it is. We will have enough energy to get back.

“I cannot change it [the schedule]. I don’t know [if players will come back for Wednesday]. No idea [if it changes January transfer plans].”

Reece James was the player of the match, Neville had awarded it to Tijjani Reijnders, on the condition Chelsea didn’t score. And they did.

“We know nothing, this whole week was about this game. We’re focused on the game, we take a point from a really difficult place to come,” James adds when asked what comes next with speculation Liam Rosenior will take over next week.

“We’ll see what happens in a few days.”

“Difficult week for us, difficult moment for us, today we are there, very happy for the team,” Enzo Fernandez says.

“Difficult moment for us, Maresca, I’m sad for him, but we have to keep it going.”

“We know what level we can perform at, when we’re firing, the second half we grew into the game,” Reece James says.

“It was a credit to the staff that stepped up, they’ve not been in this role before, City away, first game, it’s difficult, we have to adapt fast. We had to make slight adjustments. A different plan.

“We are in a difficult moment, we have to stand as a unit, as one, many people travelled today that we missed. We fought as a team today. I’m proud of the boys. It’s difficult; we have to fight with each other. We go again, we got a point.”