Man City slips further behind in Premier League race

When the final whistle blew at a rainswept Elland Road, with the managers soaked from head to toe, Marcelo Bielsa went over to Pep Guardiola and placed both hands on his shoulders. The mentor wanted an instant assessment from his coaching disciple.

Such an exhilarating game of end-to-end attacking football left Guardiola’s mind still a whirl of thoughts.

What to make of seeing his Manchester City side held 1-1 by Bielsa’s Leeds on Saturday? It left Leeds in fifth place in the Premier League and City in 11th.

“Maybe he is much cleverer than me,” Guardiola said, recounting the touchline exchange. “I need time to process.”

It won’t be hard to figure out how City — the 2018 and 2019 Premier League champions — conceded the equalizer in the 59th minute to a team playing only its fourth top division game after 16-year exile. City goalkeeper Ederson’s weak punch from Kalvin Phillips’ corner allowed striker Rodrigo to pounce on the loose ball and score his first goal since joining Leeds for a club-record fee.

“We had to find an immense physical effort to be able to be on even terms, or slightly better than City for half a game,” said Bielsa, whose bond with Guardiola began in 2006 before the Spaniard went on to achieve coaching greatness with Barcelona. Now Guardiola’s mission is reclaiming the Premier League trophy from Liverpool, but City is already eight points behind Everton, the early leader after beating Brighton 4-2 to make it four wins out of four.

Leeds is five points behind Everton as is Chelsea, which swept to a 4-0 victory over wCrystal Palace, and Newcastle, which beat Burnley 3-1.

On the weekend when fans were originally due to start being allowed back into Premier League games the doors remained shut on government orders due to a spike in infections.