Premier League: as in the first leg, Manchester City is held by an attractive Chelsea

Just three seasons ago, a duel between Manchester City and Chelsea sounded like one of the meetings of the year in the Premier League. In Europe too, as evidenced by the Champions League final won by the Blues in 2021… at the expense of the Mancunian club. But today, the two clubs are experiencing diametrically opposed trajectories. The Cityzens are reigning English and European champions, while Chelsea are slipping in 11th place in the Premier League. No, the two teams do not box in the same category, and that is obvious. But sometimes the refrain “everything can be decided in one match” is truly taking shape. During the first leg which ended in an incredible 4-4, Mauricio Pochettino’s players managed to impose a real challenge on their opponent. This Saturday, they succeeded again, even if the match was less prolific (1-1).

Possession of the ball was never in their favor. But facing the strongest team in the exercise in Europe, it would be unwise to venture into this mess. So the Blues knew how to sting with their weapons: on the counter. The first opportunity of the match was to the credit of the very aerial Erling Haaland, whose header finally escaped the target of Petrovic (12th). But then, Chelsea knew how to turn their backs and impose their style. On a cross from Malo Gusto, Nicolas Jackson first had the opportunity to open the scoring, but the Senegalese brought forward the harvest time and came up against Ederson (23rd). It was then Raheem Sterling’s turn to shine. At the end of a balancing act in the Mancunian area, the Englishman finally got confused and saw Ederson fall on him (33rd).

Sterling showers his former club, Rodri limits the damage

Not used to being pushed around like this, even less so at the Etihad Stadium, Guardiola’s players were looking for the right path without ultimately finding it. Erling Haaland, muzzled by Disasi and Colwill, struggled to escape from the density. And the inevitable happened. Still in the same configuration, Chelsea attacked space on the counter with Nicolas Jackson. The former Villarreal player sent a cross to Raheem Sterling, who eliminated Kyle Walker before deceiving Ederson with a nice wrapped shot (41st, 0-1). Stunned but not defeated, the Sky Blues responded after returning from the locker room. Kevin De Bruyne was not far from equalizing on a free kick (47th), and Erling Haaland on a counter (51st).

In a fight where we went back to back, Sterling was in turn close to knocking out City, but his strike was repelled by a heroic Ederson (57th). The Etihad Stadium was emerging, and so was Haaland. The Norwegian came up against Petrovic after a superb run (66th), and ten minutes later saw his diving header fly into the Manchester sky (77th). Bernardo Silva in turn gave a shiver (80th), but it was ultimately the handyman, Rodri, who sounded the revolt to equalize (83rd, 1-1). Receiving a cross, the Spaniard deceived Petrovic with a beautiful left-footed half-volley. The heated moments intensified on the Chelsea goal, but a great sigh of relief finally reached the heads after a last moment of hesitation. In the standings, Manchester City remains 3rd in the Premier League while Chelsea is in 10th place.