Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel knows his team beat a Manchester City team due to the hosts’ mistakes and a controversial referee’s decision, but also hard work in a 2-1 win at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday.
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Chelsea trailed 1-0 at the break but Tuchel knows that Sergio Aguero’s missed panenka penalty kept the game in the balance at halftime (and Kevin De Bruyne not playing sure helps, too).
“What a performance in the second half,” Tuchel said. “More or less an equal first half but in the last five minutes we almost give it away completely. If they score the penalty maybe it’s over before it really starts and you go to halftime 2-0 with no chance to come back.”
The Blues move into third place in the Premier League thanks to Marcos Alonso’s stoppage-time winner, which came moments after Raheem Sterling was not awarded a penalty after Kurt Zouma appeared to take him down in the box.
Tuchel was again asked about hard-luck Timo Werner, who failed to score but set up the winner.
“Easier said than done because he was working like a dog,” Tuchel said. “Not sure if you can say this but he was really, really working hard. It was so important and gave them a hard time with all his runs. He left them pretty exhausted.”