‘Chelsea Is A World Champions Team, Not Academy Players’: Guardiola Praises Blues Quality Despite Dropped Points
Pep Guardiola insisted Manchester City did not lose control despite being held to a 1–1 draw by Chelsea at the Etihad Stadium, a result that leaves Arsenal six points clear at the top of the Premier League.
Speaking to BBC Match of the Day after Enzo Fernández’s stoppage-time equaliser denied City victory, Guardiola defended his side’s performance: ‘I don’t agree that City lost control. They scored a goal and that is why you analyse the result.
‘Of course they made a step up and were more intense in the pressing and they had the chances because we lost two balls in the beginning of the second half. But, if you believe that they shifted the momentum, ok. You maybe know better.’
The City boss praised Chelsea’s quality, highlighting the difficulty of maintaining dominance against elite opposition: ‘Chelsea is a world champions team. It is not academy players there. Top class players. So to have control for 90 minutes against a team is so, so difficult.’
Guardiola admitted his side missed opportunities to kill the game off: ‘We missed chances in the second half, four or five actions of two versus one or three versus two. Our talented players tried to finish the game but we could not do that.’
Despite the frustration, he remained positive about City’s overall display: ‘When you talk about all the stats in all the departments that we can analyse then one is how effective you are in the final third. In general how we defend, how we run, how we play, was extraordinary.’
On the growing gap to Arsenal, Guardiola added: ‘It is what it is. We recover people and we see on Wednesday.’
