1-1. Caicedo’s Chelsea draws with Haaland’s City – 2024-02-23 04:48:38

Chelsea dreamed, thanks to the vengeful Raheem Sterling, of taking over the Etihad Stadium and subjecting Manchester City to their first home defeat of the year. He dreamed until Rodrigo Hernández, an expert in putting out fires and defusing problems, hooked one of his classic missiles and scored a tie that tightened the Premier League even more.

City, which depended on itself to be the leader of the competition, has already lost that advantage. The draw against an unrecognizable Chelsea, in a terrible game by Erling Haaland, who failed like never before, swings the title towards Liverpool and compresses the top positions; If they win the postponed match, Liverpool, City and Arsenal will be within a two-point gap.

On an afternoon in which a victory similar to that of February 2019, when the ‘Sky Blues’ won 6-0, was savored in the atmosphere, Chelsea, as they did in the first leg, surprisingly showed their face. If he already surprised the ‘cityzens’ with the 4-4 at Stamford Bridge, this time he put them on the ropes and condemned them to be content with the draw, despite the fact that the faces of Haaland and Phil Foden at the end of the match were of disappointment total.

The Norwegian even turned away the camera that was filming him after the final whistle, aware that he had just completed one of his worst matches. Ten shots, zero goals, his worst record since he arrived at City. His ‘Expected Goals’ statistic rose to 1.88, but he was unable to find the net.

Mauricio Pochettino took note of the danger that Copenhagen created with spaces and pressing the ball out of City, especially from Ederson, and the ‘Blues’ found ways to do damage. A failure by Nicolas Jackson in the one-on-one against Ederson was the precedent that warned him of his danger.

The second time they had it, in a wide wall between Jackson and Palmer, the African served the ball for Sterling to knock out Kyle Walker and score against Ederson. He exacted a particular revenge and did not hesitate to celebrate the goal.

At the other end of the field, Haaland did not stop missing chances, especially with his head. A dozen missed opportunities that prevented City from being able to finish the job ahead of time and that allowed Chelsea, on the counterattack, to come close to finishing it. Sterling, in a good save by Ederson, let his dream night slip away.

With City having around thirty shots without success and Chelsea being the third team in the Premier League that concedes the most in the final fifteen minutes, the goal, no matter how it came, was practically a safe bet.

And like in most important games in the last year, it bore Rodri’s stamp.

After a shot by Walker that Disasi repelled, the ball fell to Rodri in his zone, inside the large area. He impaled it with his left foot, touching Chalobah and the net.

Despite efforts to try for the second and a penalty request at the last minute, City settled for a draw that leaves them third with 53 points and one game less than Arsenal (55) and Liverpool (57).

Chelsea is tenth for another day, tied with Brighton and still far from the European zone of the competition.

– Datasheet:

1 – Manchester City: Ederson; Walker, Dias, Aké, Akanji; Rodri, De Bruyne; Foden, Doku, Álvarez (Silva, m.64) and Haaland.

1 – Chelsea: Petrovic; Taste, Disasi, Colwill, Chilwell; Caicedo, Enzo, Gallagher; Palmer (Chalobah, m.71), Sterling (Nkunku, m.64) and Jackson (Casadei, m.82).

Goals: 0-1. Sterling, m.42. 1-1. Rodri, m.83

Referee: Andrew Madley cautioned Caicedo (m.35), Palmer (m.60) and Petrovic (m.62) for Chelsea and Silva (m.85) for Manchester City.

Incidents: Match corresponding to matchday 25 of the Premier League played at the Etihad Stadium (Manchester). EFE