Sterling shows Haaland the way
IF this season’s title race is to turn into a series of trilogies involving the three teams who are clear of the rest, Manchester City found out at the Etihad just how difficult it is to follow two blockbusters.
After Liverpool put four goals past Brentford in west London and Arsenal followed that by sticking five past Burnley in the north west, City laboured to a 1-1 draw with a much-improved Chelsea team that left them four points adrift of Jurgen Klopp’s side at the top.
This was a flat performance from Pep Guardiola’s champions, who had won their last six games in succession in the league and had not dropped a point since December 16. It will give hope to those who assumed they were on the cusp of putting together another of their irresistible runs in pursuit of a fourth successive title.
Chelsea were the better side for large parts of the game and this was the kind of performance that should lift the pressure that has been building on their manager, Mauricio Pochettino, for the promise it holds for the future.
Only a late equaliser from Rodri, who has not been on a losing City team for more than a year, stopped Chelsea going back to London with all three points.
Chelsea defended resolutely and counterattacked brilliantly, cutting the City defence to shreds time after time. If City were dominant in possession, they also looked desperately vulnerable when they did not have the ball.
If Chelsea’s finishing had been more ruthless, they would have won. Then again, Erling Haaland missed more chances in 90 minutes yesterday than he missed in 52 matches last season. That, at least, was how it seemed.
When the final whistle blew, the Norway striker walked off the pitch looking inconsolable, his head buried deep in his chest, pushing away the commiserations of teammates and the attentions of a cameraman.
Chelsea are still marooned in mid-table but they are showing distinct signs of making progress. Axel Disasi was a rock at the heart of their defence, Conor Gallagher was the best player on the pitch, and Enzo Fernandez is starting to look like the player Todd Boehly paid more than £100million for.
Pochettino’s team still have an awfully long way to go before they achieve any sort of respectability this season but if they play anything like this in the Carabao Cup final against Liverpool next weekend, they will have an even chance of lifting the first silverware of the season.
After former City player Cole Palmer scored the late equaliser that earned Chelsea a share of the spoils in the 4-4 draw between the teams at Stamford Bridge in November, it was apt that another City alumnus, Raheem Sterling, should score the Chelsea goal at his old stomping ground. It was not quite enough to secure the win.
City should have taken the lead in the 13th minute with their first opening of the game. Jeremy Doku played in Julian Alvarez down the left and his cross found Haaland 10 yards out. He rose comfortably above Levi Colwill but he could not keep his header down and it sailed
over the bar. Chelsea offered glimpses of threat, enough to get Pochettino dancing jigs of frustration on the touchline.
Sterling started the game well but shot weakly at Ederson and Palmer nearly latched on to a brilliant through ball from Gallagher only to be denied by a fine saving tackle from Nathan Ake.
Chelsea threatened again midway through this half and this time they carved City’s defence open. Palmer
freed Malo Gusto on the right with a delicious through ball and Gusto threaded it precisely into the path of Nicolas Jackson.
Jackson looked every inch a striker low on confidence and unsure of touch. His first touch took the ball too close to Ederson and his second was blocked by the legs of the City keeper.
The chances were coming thick and fast now. Ben Chilwell should have sent Sterling galloping clear
on the halfway line but the England left back misjudged his pass and it was intercepted.
Pochettino leapt around in a fury on the touchline as if he were treading on hot coals.
City dominated possession but they could not make a dent in Chelsea’s defence and three minutes before half time, Chelsea got the goal they deserved when Jackson’s sublime touch and Gusto’s return to him set the Chelsea forward free on the right. Jackson saw Sterling bursting unmarked through the middle and curled the ball into his path. Sterling cut the ball back, sitting Kyle Walker down on his backside, and then swept an emphatic finish past Ederson as the keeper tried to close him down.
City started the second half strongly. De Bruyne curled a freekick on to the roof of the net and then a lightning counter-attack ended with Foden crossing to the back post for Haaland, who volleyed wide.
But it was Chelsea, again, who made the clearest opportunities. Ten minutes after the break, they nearly went two up when Gusto crossed for Sterling who deflected the ball towards goal from the edge of the six-yard box.
It looked like a certain goal but Ederson produced a magnificent reaction save and then blocked the follow-up effort from Chilwell.
Chelsea sliced through the City defence yet again but the chance disappeared when Jackson and the increasingly influential Fernandez got in each other’s way. Jackson
responded with a tantrum that would not have been out of place at nursery school. Fernandez just glared at him.
City were racking up the statistics of frustration. Haaland had had nine shots at goal without scoring. City had had more than 20 shots at goal without scoring, the most for more than three years.
Thirteen minutes from the end, it seemed as though they had finally found an equaliser.
De Bruyne curled a beautiful cross into the box with his left foot and Haaland ran on to it in glorious isolation 10 yards out.
The goal was at his mercy but as he twisted his body to get the maximum power in his header, he only succeeded in directing the ball over the bar.
Five minutes later, City finally evelled the scores. The ball fell to Walker on the edge of the area and when his piledriver rebounded off Haaland, Rodri was first to it. He smashed it goalwards and even though Trevoh Chalobah got in the way, it deflected off his leg high into the roof of the net.
City laid siege to Chelsea’s goal in the closing minutes and the visitors survived frantic claims for handball against Levi Colwill and a last second flap and miss from Djordje Petrovic at a corner. It may only have been a guest appearance in the succession of title race trilogies but Chelsea deserved their point.