Pep Guardiola’s men were rarely under threat against Chelsea on Sunday, but the Manchester City boss is unlikely to be thrilled that the game stayed in the balance long enough for the Blues to steal a point at the Etihad Stadium.
MORE — Man City v Chelsea recap, video highlights
Tijjani Reijnders scored what long looked likely to be the lone goal as City as the game should’ve been put to bed earlier against a Chelsea team missing several key pieces.
Instead, Enzo Fernandez scrapped his way to a stoppage-time equalizer and Chelsea heads back to London with a surprise point while Man City leaves six points back of leaders Arsenal.
Guardiola also shared vague news about two significant players who left the game through injury: Josko Gvardiol and Ruben Dias. The former’s injury looked especially rough.
Pep Guardiola reaction — What did Man City boss say on draw with Chelsea, Gvardiol and Dias injuries
You had control. What changed to give them momentum? “I disagree [that Chelsea got momentum].”
Asks interviewer what he thought happened?
I just thought you had total control at halftime but they changed things and took momentum. “Yeah, they scored a goal so you analyze the result. They had the chances because we lost two balls in the second half. If you believe they shaved the momentum, maybe you know better than me.”
"[Chelsea] are a world champion team. It’s not an academy team. Ninety minutes against them is tough. We missed chances in the second half. We challenged players to finish the game and we could not do it.”
Need to finish chances: “This is what it is. It’s not about expected goals. When you talk about all the stats and all the departments, one is how effective you are in the final third. But in general how we ran and played was okay.”
“We’ll recover people and see next Wednesday.”
What’s the status of Ruben Dias and Josko Gvardiol? “Apparently it doesn’t look good. We will see tomorrow. I think they will be on the sidelines for a few weeks.”
