The closing of Matchday 12 of the Premier League electrified a real match on the field of Stamford Bridge between Chelsea and Manchester City, who showed again why this competition is considered the best in the world.
In a battle of somersaults and some emotions, Mauricio Pochettino’s Chelsea ended up saving a precious point against Manchester City, leaving Stamford Bridge with a bitter taste despite ending the day as leaders in the competition, although only one point ahead of Arsenal. who took advantage of the Tottenham disaster.
When everything looked like in the last minutes the victory was going in favor of the Citizens, a penalty to Armando Broja changed everything and it was the former Citizen player, Cole Palmer who implemented the famous ‘Law of the ex’ to be taken. the victory that the Sky Blues almost had in the bag.
While City left with a bitter taste from this visit to Chelsea, Mauricio Pochettino’s Blues continued to show that they have the means to compete in the Premier League and today they showed it by playing against the current monarch of English football and European football.
A tactical duel defined in details
Once again, Pep Guardiola and Mauricio Pochettino gave us a real duel of strategy and somewhat tactical. Recall that the Champions League quarter-final series between Tottenham and Manchester City, where the Argentine coach won the native Sampedor. The two strategists moved their pieces when needed and strategically developed a fair line-by-line game, which was ultimately decided by specific situations such as penalties, defensive errors and goalkeepers.
Controversy exists
Although both teams gave us a really good game, the controversy did not disappear and the two allowed penalties left something to talk about. Especially the one where the whistler Anthony Taylor allowed Marc Cucurella against Erling Haaland, because for some specialists and former players it was not and that is how they expressed it on social networks. In the same way, the punishment from Rubén Dias to Armando Broja has elements that cannot be imposed according to specialists.
A Chelsea with the ability to react and never give up
Three times Chelsea found themselves on the scoreboard, 1-0 after Haaland’s penalty, 3-2 to the Norwegian himself at the beginning of the second half and 4-3 after Rodri’s painful score. However, those led by Mauricio Pochettino showed enough character and ability to overcome and manage even the confrontation and even turn it back in a few moments thanks to goals from Thiago Silva, Raheem Sterling, Nicolas Jackson and penalties by Cole Palmer.
The city does not know how to manage their advantage
Although Chelsea’s reaction on the aforementioned occasions where Manchester City took the lead was more to Chelsea’s credit, Guardiola’s team did not know how to continue and suffered greatly from the Blues’ intense midfield pressure, that it even led the Sky Blue team players make mistakes like Rubén Dias’ penalty on Broja in the last moments.
Inspiration is key for Cole Palmer who signed ‘Ex’s Law’
The Manchester-born man delivered a really good game after receiving the confidence from Pochettino to face his former team as a starter. The young Englishman was involved at all times and even almost scored before his penalty, highlighting his bravery in taking the ball and deciding to take the maximum penalty at the end of the game.
