Man City v Chelsea LIVE: Premier League result and reaction as Rodri rescues a point with late goal
Man City 1-1 Chelsea: Mauricio Pochettino’s Chelsea earn a deserved point against the champions
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Your support makes all the difference.Manchester City gave up ground in the Premier League title race as they were held to a draw against Chelsea at the Etihad Stadium. Pep Guardiola will believe his team deserved more after they dominated possession and created a plethora of chances for Erling Haaland that were not taken.
Mauricio Pochettino set up his Chelsea team to counterattack with the pace of Raheem Sterling leading the line and it was the former City man who opened the scoring. Nicolas Jackson breaking down the right before slipping the ball to him. Sterling dribbled into the box, cut inside of Kyle Walker, and curled a cool finish past Ederson.
Chelsea tried to hold onto their slim lead and even switched to five at the back, but City turned up the heat several degrees. The pushed, repeatedly whipping crosses and set pieces into the box and earned a reprieve thanks to crunch player Rodri who popped up inside the final 10 minutes to get them level.
City couldn’t push on for the winner though and Chelsea made it through stoppage time to secure a brilliant result against the champions.
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Rodri’s late rescue robs Chelsea of their best result under Mauricio Pochettino as Man City rue wasted chances
The last time Chelsea beat Manchester City, Rodri had a watching brief from the bench. He was an unused substitute in the 2021 Champions League final and if both his and Chelsea’s fortunes have shifted dramatically since then – the Spaniard scoring the winner in Europe’s biggest club game of 2023 while the former champions finished in the lower half of the Premier League – it took a crunch player’s latest crucial intervention to extend two unbeaten runs.
Thanks to his equaliser, City have not lost to Chelsea in the subsequent eight rematches. They have not been defeated at home in 34 matches, spanning 462 days. And yet, well-timed as his damage-limitation exercise was, it was still a day when City suffered harm. Liverpool and Arsenal registered emphatic wins so City find themselves third in a three-horse race, their sequence of 11 straight wins ended. This was a reminder to the wider world that glory is no formality.
Rodri’s late rescue robs Chelsea of their best result under Mauricio Pochettino
Man City 1-1 Chelsea: The defensive midfielder’s half-volley cancelled out Raheem Sterling’s opener but City failed to make their advantage count
FULL-TIME! Manchester City 1-1 Chelsea
Guardiola is speaking to Sky now, and says his team were “really good”. He says City had chances, but that the rhythm wasn’t there.
He says he is “pleased” with Haaland, and that “next game he will score”.
“We did perfectly well the first half,” he adds.
He praises Liverpool and Arsenal, as they won earlier, but says that City are “happy with where we are”.
Very little of real substance there for the Catalan,
FULL-TIME! Manchester City 1-1 Chelsea
Pochettino is first to speak to the media. He calls it a very good performance, saying he was”very pleased”.
“I think that is the spirit that we want to show. We are working for that. I think they are the best team in the world and to show this performance, I think we need to be proud. We were very brave.
“I think we were aggressive with the ball going forward and winning duels. In the second half I think they dominated and they forced us to defend deeper.
“I am so happy. It is a good draw for us. Manchester City have the quality and capacity to create chances and they have amazing players. It is fantastic for us and we need to grow.”
FULL-TIME! Manchester City 1-1 Chelsea
Rodri is speaking to Sky now, and says that City “weren’t great in the first half”.
“We conceded another easy goal. I think we have to defend better. They almost created nothing in the first half.
“We knew about their counter-attacks and fast players, but we have to defend the counter-attack better. From there, it’s always more difficult to come back.”
FULL-TIME! Manchester City 1-1 Chelsea
Conor Gallagher is speaking to Sky. He says Chelsea are slightly disappointed, but felt like they had chances to win the game.
“We’re disappointed to concede quite late, but this is a good point.
“We had quite a lot of chances, we countered them well.
“It’s a fair result in the end. We had a chance or two to get the second, but they had chances as well. It was a good performance.”
He ends by saying this performance gives them momentum, and says they’re excited ahead of the League Cup final.
FULL-TIME! Manchester City 1-1 Chelsea
FULL-TIME! Manchester City 1-1 Chelsea
That result keeps Manchester City in third, two points behind Arsenal and four behind leaders Liverpool.
They have a game in hand on both sides, and face Brentford in midweek.
A good result for Chelsea sees them move back into tenth, with 35 points from 25 games. They can take a lot of encouragement from that performance going into next week’s Carabao Cup final against Liverpool – they have no midweek Premier League game either.
FULL-TIME! Manchester City 1-1 Chelsea
In the chaos at the end, a goal-bound shot was blocked by a Chelsea defender and narrowly drifted wide. That would have been so harsh on the away side.
Both teams played well in parts, though a draw was certainly a fair result. City’s quality was not on show in the same way it usually is, but Chelsea set up well to frustrate the champions.
Manchester City 1-1 Chelsea
95 mins: FULL-TIME!
The VAR check is finished and there’ll be one last opportunity for City from a corner.
The ball is cleared and the whistle goes for full-time! 1-1 final score.
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