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 16th. 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. They defended resolutely and counter-attacked brilliantly, cutting the City defence to shreds time after time. If their finishing had been more ruthless, they would have won the game.
Then again, if Erling Haaland had taken his chances with the same aplomb he exhibited last season, City would have been out of sight. Haaland walked off the pitch at the end looking inconsolable, his head buried deep in his chest, pushing away the commiserations of teammates.
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Raheem Sterling scored against his old club to give Chelsea an unexpected advantage
Rodri found an equaliser in the 83rd minute after Manchester City went close multiple times
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 beginning to look like the player that Todd Boehly paid more than £100m for.
Mauricio Pochettino’s team still have an awful 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 alumni, 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 ten yards out. Haaland rose comfortably above Levi Colwill but he could not keep his header down and it sailed over the bar.
Chelsea offered occasional glimpses of threat, enough to get Mauricio Pochettino dancing jigs of frustration on the touchline. Raheem Sterling started the game well but shot weakly at Ederson and Palmer nearly latched on to a brilliant through ball from Conor 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 the City defence wide 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. With Ederson rushing out to close him down, his first touch took the ball too close to the City keeper and his second was blocked by the legs of Ederson.
The chances were coming thick and fast now. Ben Chilwell should have sent Sterling galloping clear on the half-way 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.
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Erling Haaland missed a succession of chances after great creative play from Kevin De Bruyne
City had 29 shots and 71 per cent possession but could only score once past Djordje Petrovic
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 City keeper tried to close him down. Now it was Guardiola’s turn to dance a dance of rage on the touchline.
City started the second half strongly. De Bruyne curled a free kick 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. The miss was less about his body language and more about his body shape.
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 and Sterling 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 to stop the ball with his outstretched right boot and then blocked the follow-up effort from Chilwell.
Doku had been disappearing up a lot of blind alleys on the left wing but just after the hour, he beat his man and floated a cross to the back post where Foden met it on the volley. He did not connect with it cleanly but it was bouncing towards goal when Gusto hacked it clear.
Chelsea sliced through the City defence yet again but the chance disappeared when Jackson and the increasingly influential Enzo Fernandez got in each other’s way as they shot for goal. Jackson responded with a spectacular 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 seven shots at goal without scoring. City had had more than 20 shots at goal without scoring, the most for more than three years. It still seemed a matter of time until they scored but time was running out.
Thirteen minutes from the end, it seemed as though they had finally found an equaliser. As Chelsea desperately tried to resist the tide of light blue attacks, De Bruyne curled a beautiful cross into the box with his left foot and Haaland ran on to it in glorious isolation ten 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.
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City are now four points behind league front-runners Liverpool with just one game in hand
Chelsea had mixed feeling after picking up a good point but losing their lead near the end
City have trailed in eight of their last 13 games but manage to find a way back in to matches
Some felt that was the end, that if City didn’t score then, they would never score. But five minutes later, they finally got the goal that levelled 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. Rodri smashed it goalwards and even though Trevoh Chalobah got in the way of it, it deflected off his leg high into the roof of the net.
City laid siege to Chelsea’s goal in the closing minutes and Chelsea survived frantic claims for handball against Levi Colwill during a penalty area melee 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.