Manchester City pulled off an impressive comeback win over Chelsea to move up to fourth in the table with Enzo Maresca needing to take action in the transfer market.
Pep Guardiola has splashed the cash this month on new recruits to help get the club back on track after a disappointing first half of the season.
Injuries have taken their toll on City’s squad with the likes of Kevin De Bruyne, Ruben Dias, Rodri and Nathan Ake missing large chunks of the season.
Vitor Reis, Omar Marmoush and Abdukodir Khusanov have been drafted in for a combined £123m with the latter two named in the starting line-up to face Chelsea.
Erling Haaland pounced on an error from Robert Sanchez
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But it proved to be a disastrous debut for Khusanov, who was at fault for Chelsea’s opening goal of the match inside just three minutes.
The centre-back made a huge error in attempting a headed back-pass to Ederson, which was cut out by Nicolas Jackson inside the box.
The Chelsea forward then provided an easy assist for Noni Madueke to score into an empty net as Khusanov was left with his head in his hands.
Things went from bad to worse for the Uzbekistan international minutes later as he was shown a yellow card for a wild challenge on Cole Palmer.
It was a different story entirely for Marmoush, who was proving to be City’s main spark in attack.
The Egypt international caused Chelsea’s defenders all sorts of problems and had the ball in the back of the net after pouncing on an error from Robert Sanchez, only for his goal to be ruled out for offside.
City were level just before the break when Josko Gvardiol took advantage of a mistake from Chelsea’s backline to tap into an empty net.
Marmoush was continuing to cause Chelsea problems in the second half as City pushed for the game’s next goal.
And it came through another error from Robert Sanchez – his fifth leading to a goal this season.
Omar Marmoush impressed on his debut
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Ederson launched a long ball up the pitch for Erling Haaland to run on to and Sanchez rushed out of his box to try and get there first, but he was got nowhere close to the ball.
Haaland easily shrugged off pressure from Trevoh Chalobah before calmly lofting the ball over a stranded Sanchez.
City made sure of all three points late on when Phil Foden broke Chelsea’s high line with a confident finish past the Chelsea goalkeeper.
Picking up a result away at the Etihad is never an easy task, even this season, but Chelsea were largely undone by another below-par performance from Sanchez.
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Abdukodir Khusanov endured a difficult debut
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Maresca made Sanchez his No 1 choice over Kepa Arrizabalaga, who was allowed to join Bournemouth on loan for the season.
But Kepa has produced some stellar displays for Bournemouth this season and has played a key role in them climbing up to seventh in the table.
Only Arsenal and Liverpool have a better defensive record than Bournemouth this season, with Kepa conceding just 19 goals in the league.