Pep Guardiola makes surprise admission when asked why he picked Abdukodir Khusanov vs Chelsea

Pep Guardiola has explained why he gave Abdukodir Khusanov his first Premier League start in the 3-1 win over Chelsea.

The Uzbekistan international - the first player from his nation to play for a Premier League club - partnered Manuel Akanji in central defence against Chelsea.

The 20-year-old completed a reported £33.6 million move from Lens on Monday, with Guardiola deeming him ready to take on the Blues at the Etihad Stadium.

Khusanov had a nightmare start to the game as he did not get enough power on an attempted header back to Ederson, with Nicolas Jackson capitalising on the loose ball to square it to Noni Madueke for the opening goal.

The centre-back did appear to gradually settle into the game as the half went on but, in what may have been a pre-planned decision, Guardiola substituted him for John Stones on 54 minutes.

Noni Madueke pounces on Abdukodir Khusanov's error and Chelsea take the lead inside three minutes! 🫨 pic.twitter.com/xqg0b6tea5

— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) January 25, 2025

Speaking after the game, the Spaniard explained why he trusted Khusanov to play from the start - and stated that the defender had only been able to be involved in 'one or two' training sessions with the team before his selection.

"He doesn't speak English, so I didn't speak to him," he said. "He'll be fine. He only made one, two trainings [sessions].

"I didn't want to push John Stones returning from injury with Wednesday's [Champions League group stage] game [versus Club Brugge].

"The players were together - that was massively important. Any player can make a mistake. The Manchester City fans always support the new players. He's so young - he will learn."

Guardiola also gave a debut to fellow new signing Omar Marmoush, with the striker having signed from Frankfurt for £59 million on Thursday.

And while Marmoush also only had one training session, speaking on Sky Sports, Jamie Redknapp believed that it was 'less of a risk' for him to start compared to Khusanov.

He said: "It's easy to be clever, it's hindsight. I said before the game, I felt it was a bit of a risk [starting Khusanov]. It's less of a risk for Marmoush as a striker, because the mistake he can make is he misses a chance.

"But when you're playing as a centre-back, it's difficult. The risk, the pressure that's on you. I think Pep will be thinking, right now, 'I shouldn't have played him'.

"He's just come into the country, he's 20 years of age. It's not like he's worked with this back four. The team has not got any confidence right now as a defensive unit. It's not like you've got an established back four, where you can come in and the team is winning week in, week out.

"Last year, this would have been a much easier job. This season, it is much more difficult. But he's got to learn from it, I think long-term it will probably help him. After he made those initial mistakes, he got better.

"I just hope it doesn't damage him long-term - hopefully he will learn from it and become a stronger player."