Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

Man City benefit most from derby draw

Two of the main candidates for the Premier League played out a thrilling and breathless 2-2 draw at Stamford Bridge. The draw leaves Man City 10 points clear the the top of the table. 

In a meeting between second and third, where both sides were eager to get the win in order to keep up with Man City, it was Liverpool who struck first. And in fact second.

The build up to the match was dominated by a controversial Romelu Lukaku  interview which led to him being dropped by manager Thomas Tuchel.

Liverpool were led by assistant manager Pepijn Lijnders after suspected positive COVID-19 test to manager Jurgen Klopp.  Alisson, Roberto Firmino and Joel Matip were also absent.

The first half of the game can easily be classified as one of the most trilling 45 minutes of football in Premier League history.

Just 15 seconds into the game, Liverpool’s Sadio Mane recorded the earliest yellow card in a Premier League game since the start of the 2006-07 season.

And that yellow could have easily been red. Mane hit Azpilicueta with his forearem after he chased a high ball forward from the opening kick-off.         “A clear red,” Azpilicueta said, and Tuchel agreed. What saved Mané was that he did not swing the arm.

Sadio Mane was booked just 15 seconds into the game after leading with his arm in a challenge with Cesar Azpilicueta

Just 8 minutes later, the Senegalese was the center of attention again. Diogo Jota tried to find Mane with a through ball. Trevoh Chalobah tried to head the ball away, even though it was there for the volley, he succeeded only in ushering in Mané, who sliced inside Mendy and slammed past César Azpilicueta on the line – 0:1 Liverpool.

The forward celebrates scoring at Stamford Bridge in his last Liverpool game before heading for the Africa Cup of Nations

In the 26th minute, Mohamed Salah killed of perfectly a pass by Trent Alexander-Arnold, beat Marcos Alonso and slotted past Eduard Mendy from a tight angle – 0:2 Liverpool.

At this point the game looked done and dusted. Which was not the case. After Kelleher punched a Chelsea free-kick clear, Kovacic produced an outstanding piece of technique to send a first-time volley crashing off the post and into the back of the net from 20 yards to give the home fans hope. In added time N’Golo Kanté played Christian Pulisic through on goal and the American struck wonderfully past Kelleher to draw Chelsea level in added time. The roof almost came off Stamford Bridge.

Chelsea were 2-0 down when Mateo Kovacic (right) brilliantly volleyed home with three first half minutes to play

The second half contained a few outstanding saves from both goalkeepers to keep the result 2:2. In the space of two minutes Eduard Mendy dennied both Salah and Mane. Liverpool’s stand-in Caoimhin Kelleher replied with an instinctive save to keep out Pulisic’s half-volley from close range.

With both teams losing players due to AFCON, January shapes up to be a tough month. AFCON, COVID, controversial interviews and injuries might force the managers to make moves in the January transfer window.

The results leaves Pep Guardiola’s side 10 points clear of second-placed Chelsea and 11 ahead of third-placed Liverpool, although the Reds have a game in hand.

The race for the title remains open…ish.

You May Also Like

On Friday night, 2021 Hall of Fame Finalist Paul Pierce made headlines for going on Instagram Live. The former 10-time All-Star was featured smoking,...

The events that led to Paul Piece’s swift exit from ESPN have been buzzing around the internet. Reactions and responses have been coming from...

Football

A video has been released online, displaying a staff member from Eko Hotel having an argument with Joseph Yobo   https://www.instagram.com/p/CTNkVGFoF0E/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link 15 players were...

Paris St Germain forward Neymar pledged his future to the Ligue 1 champions, saying talks of a contract renewal at the club are no...

Copyright © 2024 Afroballers