Man City 1-1 Chelsea: Post-match reaction

ManchesterWorld

Our reporter Michael Plant gives his thoughts after Manchester City draw 1-1 with Chelsea at the Etihad.

Transcript

00:00 The game has just finished here at the Etihad where this evening it was

00:03 Manchester City won, Chelsea won. A frustrating day ultimately for the

00:07 champions who do lose ground on league leaders Liverpool. They're now five

00:11 points behind Jurgen Klopp's side who I suppose now hold the advantage in the

00:15 title race. City obviously have a mid-week game against Brentford. I thought it was a

00:19 match that they hoped that if they could have won that they would have gone top

00:21 of the table but no the draw tonight means that it is Liverpool who hold the

00:25 advantage at this stage. It was as I say an afternoon that Pep Guardiola will

00:30 come away from infuriated I think just with the amount of chances City created

00:35 but they just couldn't find a way past a very well organized Chelsea defence. I

00:38 actually think City played some really good stuff. I think Guardiola will be pretty

00:41 happy with things in terms of how they dominated the ball, how they moved it, how

00:45 they created so many chances and on another day Erling Haaland could have

00:49 had a hat-trick but I don't know what happened today. He must have been wearing

00:51 someone else's boots because he couldn't take so many chances. I think it was 10

00:54 in the end. I heard someone say that he had missed several headers as well

00:58 actually and it was just a day that things just weren't totally clicking

01:02 really and of course an extra sense of frustration that it was a former

01:06 Manchester City player who did give Chelsea the lead in the first half with

01:10 Raheem Sterling flying in on the Chelsea goal, curling pass

01:13 Ederson. I thought it was a really easy goal actually for Chelsea to score. I think City

01:17 will be disappointed with their defendant. Listen this is a theme that

01:19 keeps popping up I think for City this season. Just how many cheap sloppy goals

01:23 they are giving away. It's something Guardiola has spoken about as well but in the

01:27 second half they were much better. City they really moved the ball quickly with

01:30 urgency, created so many chances as I say. 32 shots in the end for City here today

01:34 and to just score one goal. Listen they'll be disappointed with that but I think at

01:38 the same time as I say Guardiola will be pleased with the levels that his side

01:41 showed and it was Rodri who got the 83rd minute equaliser for City. The ball came

01:45 back to him at the edge of the box and he fired a vicious shot into the back of

01:48 the net. He thought from there City were going to push on. They've won 11 in a

01:52 row before tonight. Three of those they came from behind to win. Actually City

01:55 trailing isn't all that uncommon. They tended to come back and win but that

01:59 wasn't the case tonight. Just couldn't get past Chelsea defence. Chelsea to be

02:02 fair to them has been so hit and miss for them over the last couple of weeks but they were

02:06 really good tonight. Defended as a unit I think it'll ease a lot of the pressure

02:10 on Pochettino with this recent run of results. A good result for them. They'll be

02:14 delighted to come here. City don't slip up very often at the Etihad. They

02:17 haven't lost a game here since November 2022 so to even come away with a point

02:22 is a very impressive result for them. Encouraging for them. City will be

02:25 disappointed ultimately as I say in regards to the picture of the title race

02:29 but I think in the grand scheme of things Pep Guardiola will know they were

02:32 never going to win every game between now and the end of the season. Slip-ups

02:34 are inevitable and it's not just how they bounce back in midweek against

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