Manchester City’s serial award-winning manager Pep Guardiola believes a draw was absolutely fair following his side’s 4-4 thriller with Chelsea.
The thrills-and-spills game was a frenetic, hotly-contested open affair with seemingly nothing able to separate both teams after 90 minutes as they went tooth and nails against each other. After the dust from the fury of the intense action has settled down, City will now head to the international break top of the Premier League with a one-point lead over Liverpool and Arsenal.
Guardiola commented post-match following the 4-all draw that City although he believed his side could have done better, he conceded the game could have gone either way. He said: “Could be better, but could be worse too, so it’s good for the Premier League.”
Guardiola added: “It was a tight game, we had our moments when it was 2-3 in our transitions – not to kill the game, because with 40 minutes left, many things can happen. We had moments and our goal at 3-4 – we were lucky, and we didn’t make perfect decisions, but the quality they have, it is what it is. Right now, it was a fair result – both teams played to win.”
The overtly defensive performance that City put up at Stamford Bridge was uncharacteristic of Guardiola’s side with the usually formidable defence unusually leaky this time around, with only Manuel Akanji of the back four performing to the usual exceptionally high standards demanded by Pep Guardiola. However the defensive lapses were understandable in the absence of Nathan Ake and John Stones due to injury, with not many options available for Pep to strategically employ.
This could in all honesty be written off as an off night for several key players on the City side, with the Cityzens rightfully disappointed to concede a late equaliser after Rodri’s late strike had given them a late 4-3 lead. But credit is certainly due the Blues for fighting back gamely to snatch a much-needed point.
The defending champions will be welcoming Jurgen Klopp’s side to the Etihad in a fortnight after the international break.