Chelsea fans chant for Conor Gallagher after Erling Haaland gives Manchester City lead at Stamford Bridge

Chelsea supporters began chanting Conor Gallagher’s name after they went 1-0 down to Manchester City at Stamford Bridge.

The first game of Enzo Maresca’s Premier League reign started promisingly but the momentum quickly swung back in City’s favour and the defending champions made their hosts pay for some lacklustre defending in the 18th minute.

Bernardo Silva picked up possession from Jeremy Doku and found Erling Haaland, who beat Marc Cucurella and dinked the ball over Robert Sanchez in the Chelsea goal to break the deadlock.

Shortly after the strike, fans inside Stamford Bridge could be heard chanting for Gallagher, with the midfielder left out of Maresca’s squad for the heavyweight clash.

Widespread reports at the start of the summer transfer window suggested Chelsea were open to selling Gallagher – and a several other homegrown players – in order to stay on the right side of the Premier League’s profit and sustainability rules.

This is despite the fact Gallagher enjoyed an impressive campaign in an otherwise disappointing season for the west London giants, racking up five goals and seven assists in the English top flight.

Atletico Madrid are pushing to secure a deal for Conor Gallagher but the England international currently finds himself in limbo, with a proposed switch to Spain halted due to Samu Omorodion’s collapsed move to Chelsea.

The likes of Romelu Lukaku, Armando Broja, Ben Chilwell and Raheem Sterling also missed out on Chelsea’s first-team squad to take on Manchester City this afternoon.

Lukaku and Broja are both expected to move on before the transfer deadline, while Sterling had been expecting to feature against his former club.

As Chelsea’s team news filtered through, Sterling’s camp released a statement calling for ‘clarity’ over the forward’s situation.

‘Raheem Sterling is contracted to Chelsea Football Club for the next three years,’ the statement read.

‘He returned to England two weeks early to conduct individual training, and has had a positive pre-season under the new coach, who he has developed a good working relationship with.

‘He is committed, as ever, to delivering at the highest level for Chelsea FC and the fans, who he holds in high regard, and given his inclusion in official club pre-match material this week, our expectation was that Raheem would be involved in this weekend’s fixture in some capacity.

‘As a camp, we have always had positive dialogue with, and assurance from, Chelsea FC in relation to Raheem’s future at the club, so we look forward to gaining clarity on the situation.

‘Until then, we will continue to support Raheem’s desire to start the new season positively.’

In his pre-match interview with Sky Sports, Maresca stressed that making tough decisions, like leaving out the likes of Sterling and Gallagher, was simply part of the job.

It happens many times. The manager is there, he has to make some decisions,’ the Italian said.

‘Sometimes people don’t like [the decisions], players don’t like. That is normal.

‘But it’s just a technical decision and no more than that. We will see in the next days.’

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