Man City stroll past Chelsea to close gap on leaders Arsenal

21:55Daniel Sturridge:You know, it was one point, I think it was in the end. And when you look at City, I think this team now have to have that belief. But when I look at Arsenal, I think to myself, you've experienced this before. There shouldn't be any naivety. I understand if this is the first rodeo, but this isn't the first rodeo of being like... The expectation, I think, from the outside is they should win it this year. I don't think they've had that expectation before where it's like they've kind of they've been in control they've let it slip they've been in control we're still talking about a team that's six points ahead yeah of course you know what I mean but I wanted to ask you what about the League Cup final has that played any part in terms of the Arsenal mentality they cannot have any form of inferiority complex or a feeling of this team is better than us you have to erase it there's no way shape or form that they can be going into this game with any single bit of doubt.

22:51Daniel Sturridge:That was a one-off game. And that's how you've got to look at it. Yes, this is a one-off game. It's a cup final in a sense, even though it's a Premier League game. And they've got to view it as such, just like Doku had said. It's a title-deciding game. Let's be real. City have to win. Arsenal don't have to win. They can get a draw and it's fine. No problem. I'll tell you what, in the build-up to that game, we'll talk about whether that might help or not. I mean, that's it though, right? I'm just saying. I'm just saying Kelly, that's what I'm trying to do. Manchester City full of confidence at the moment.

23:19Certainly the Manchester City fans were very excited at the end of that game. And they do have, as the City fans sing, Guardiola at the helm. So we'll hear what he had to say about what we think was a really significant moment in the title race next.

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24:16What a weekend it's going to be on Sky Sports Premier League next weekend. All the build-up to Manchester City against Arsenal and a packed Super Sunday begins at 12.30. To start things off, there's a Merseyside derby, the first at Hill Dickinson Stadium. Aston Villa take on Sunderland. Nottingham Forest, a huge game for them in their battle to stay in the Premier League. They're at home to Burnley. That's another two o 'clock kick-off. and then it's the main course. 4.30 for Manchester City against Arsenal, live from the Etihad. Could it be a title decider? This has been a fantastic weekend from Manchester City's point of view, starting off with Arsenal's defeat by Bournemouth and ending up with City's victory, a 3-0 against Chelsea here at Stamford Bridge.

25:07Here's Pep Guardiola with Patrick Davison. Well, Pep, how much did you enjoy celebrating that with your fans at the end. It was quite an atmosphere in the corner there. No, it was happening when you win away in stadiums like Stamford Bridge. The fans are happy, we're more even happier. So how much did you enjoy, particularly your second half performance? And maybe what more did you ask for at half-time? Yeah, second half, that was sometimes much better. It was not bad the first half, but some players were not as to be, and we attacked a little bit in the left side, but on the right side they just played without threat.

25:48And the second half was much better on both sides. How much did you enjoy as well the performance of your free soul today, Ryan Cherky? The first to assist, which obviously has that quality, I wonder if you'd almost enjoy more the fact that he plays a big part in winning the ball back for Jeremy with the third goal? Both sides of the game. Jeremy Ryan is an extraordinary talent. and the second goal just the pass to Mark he saw him. The problem from from Ryan and we talk a lot is sometimes he plays in the positions close to a judge rate to Donnarumma. Your talent has to be in the final third. Oh it gets too low.

26:27Yeah. How good you are winning games no? Assets and something that nobody can see not even from outside. So be there. Be close to Haaland be close to the wingers and make your quality there. We'll bring the ball there to you. So, not necessarily to come down. And after that, when we are winning, and after that, he stopped to see practical, effective. But he's so young, and the impact in Premier League for the season. As much he understands that, he will become an extraordinary player. But he has the desire to be even better. It will be good for Man City, for him. You spoke a bit about consistency before this match.

27:072-0 Arsenal, 4-0 Liverpool, 3-0 Chelsea is this team like City teams of the past just starting to no the past were something unique but we are growing so we have long weeks now after being out from the Champions League and we are more fresh training everybody knows exactly what you have to do so yeah that is the reality so of course look three opponents you know three Champions League teams and and we perform not I would say 90 minutes because the first 50-20 minutes, half an hour in Arsenal were better and first 20 minutes at home against Liverpool were better. The second half here, first half here was not top but we were solid enough you know, no concede much and the threat is there.

27:53It's one of the things you're doing better, that set up when the opponent is trying to build up from the back, you're almost lining up with the four forwards across their penalty which you did it to Arsenal, you did it today and it feels like you're winning balls high or you're forcing them to kick long. Is that something that's, to me it feels like something that's clicked recently. How many years have I been here, 10 years? Tell me one day we'll try to make high pressing effective on the long balls. So I've missed that. Since 1981, yeah. It's boring to watch our teams, I know that. So the shape came differently.

28:25For example, the shape of the second half was different than the first but the tension has got created in the problems and make the long balls to win the second and start to play. It happened since 18 years when I started to be a manager. So always have been that that idea. Sometimes the shape is not the point. Psychologically then, how big a weekend do you think this has been? Saw Arsenal lose yesterday, you win pretty comfortably today, and maybe most crucially, it's in your hands now. If you win your next two Premier League games, you will be top of the Premier League. The question of this week will be that we're going to play against a team that in 49 games lost three, that in Champions League didn't lose once and I know how difficult it is so when all the games except one that they draw and in this type of games play the final Carabao Cup being completely Man City and the dogs where there is not one person in this country that could bet one pound to us that's much better now maybe it's a little bit will be a little bit different now you write a course it is in top form and the other one the respect that have Arsenal where they have done the last two three years because I know a little bit the manager about the players, the quality, how to compete in every circumstances.

29:40That will be the biggest job that we have to work in our heads. There is a point of tactical issue but maybe we'll adjust something. They will adjust something but as much quick understand they have been the best team in this country, in Europe so far today. So we'll be better. So beat Arsenal once is so difficult. Imagine beating twice in the margin for a few weeks. So we have to rest to prepare and read exactly what you want to do. But hopefully I would like to say to my fans, respect Arsenal a lot because they are an extraordinary team. They are. It's not naive. It's not to make them feel something like they are not numbers in the way they are doing two, three years is that.

30:25But at the same time, please come to join us for the minute one, support us. because the players, they will do the maximum. We won today, the first match ball, and we have the definitive or one of the match ball next Sunday. So we will try. Thank you, Pat. OK, welcome. Well, they're trying, and at the moment, it's working for them, for Manchester City. As we said, it kind of changed. The pace of the game changed after the start of the second half, and they went in front really quickly. Nico Reilly has just been such a standout player for City this season and such a revelation.

31:04Daniel Sturridge:Yeah, we're used to seeing Manchester City have goalscoring midfield, whether it was Gundogan, whether it was Kevin De Bruyne. You're seeing this, he's gone into that area and it's a fantastic header. But what I want to talk about is Santos. He's playing in a back five a lot of the game when defending and you sort of see him marking. He doesn't look comfortable. The strength and the power and the timing of the run from O 'Reilly was fantastic. that the ball magnificent and the header, you know, it makes it look easy. But yeah, the defending of Chelsea there, two men on Haaland, the organisation wasn't right.

31:36I just think from a Chelsea's point of view, all the hard work that they did in that first half, if you see there, there was just a little bit disorganised, out of shape at the wrong time. And then once you put a ball in like that, everyone will see the two fighting with Haaland in there. Everyone was focusing just on Haaland and just at the back. O 'Reilly, he's just been fantastic.

31:53Daniel Sturridge:Can I ask you a question on that as well? Why does that happen? Because you go to the threat, don't you? So if I'm going up against Erling Haaland, and we know how dangerous he can be in the air, especially his goal against Liverpool. But look, it's not even really marking him. They're just having a play fight. Yeah, but they're trying to stop his run because he wants to get up to speed. And what you're trying to do is just stop him, but then you're forgetting about O 'Reilly's in there. And he, obviously, he's been really good this season, but he wouldn't be normally a massive threat within the box.

32:25Daniel Sturridge:The thing is, you watch the tape, he scored two goals. He's scoring goals a lot at the moment. Headers, late runs into the box. Surely in the video prior to the game, there would have been a conversation about, these are the danger men, and at this present moment in time, Nico O 'Reilly's on fire. Yeah, but subconsciously, when you're in the box, you think, where is the danger? And you just go straight to where is Erling Haaland, you know? And just on the second goal here, I mean, if you look at Chelsea, they've got numbers back. And Man City go with a short corner. And as the ball goes wide here, nobody's talking to anyone.

33:05Nobody's talking. No one's organised it. It's just, it's ridiculous. So as the ball comes here, it's absolutely poor defending. And we talked about the defending before the game. And somebody has got to be the leader at the back and say, are we dropping off? Are we pushing up? And it was your man again who was sleeping at the back.

33:26Daniel Sturridge:Yes. And you know what? For me, you talked about confidence earlier on. You talked about having an immense amount of confidence. What Cherki has just done there to actually create this goal is top tier attacking football. To have the ability to do what it did was ridiculous. And then we talk about this third one here. and you know for me first of all just one ball in behind and Semenyo's on his way you're thinking to yourself okay you're going to pick your corner you get your shot off Casado thinks he's got the time they've swarmed again they've been doing this all game calm in front of goal from Doku but the pressing for me you see three players on one they're all ready to press Harland checks his shoulder moves out of the way and the finish is exemplary The good thing about that City press there I think throughout the season we've been saying City are too easy to play through, especially through the middle of the park.

34:19And if you see now, City obviously pressing with a four when Chelsea have the ball. We've seen that a couple of weeks ago. But it's their reaction when the ball goes beyond them. I don't think City would have scored a goal like that earlier on in the season. Now Pep sorted it out and they're getting that conviction when they pressed. That Arsenal game, do you think that changed everything? Correct. I think because they got success from it. Arsenal didn't know what to do. Man City was saying, OK, play for us. we're going to leave four up there, we're going to leave two and then four. And they just didn't know how to get out.

34:47And there was a couple of occasions where Chelsea did get out, but it's have you then got the legs to get back in? And they do. And that is a difference. Daniel, I'm going to ask you in a second about Ryan Shirky, but before we get to that, I just want to ask you a quick one about something that Jeremy Docky said that I wanted to ask you about at the time, which is that he wants to score more goals. He's like, I want to be a winger who scores more goals, but you've talked about that potentially sometimes causing a problem for Erling Haaland or maybe he's not getting the crosses because the wingers are thinking I need to get in and get my own goals.

35:16What do you think he should be doing? What do you think Pep Guardiola wants his wingers to do?

35:21Daniel Sturridge:I think he wants them to score an assist. Know when to pass. He's come from a football club in the Barcelona way of setting up a tapping. There were moments today when Semenyo ran through and could have squared it for Haaland to have an open net. And I think you want your wingers to be expressive. You want them to be explorative. You want them to take the game by the scruff of the neck, get the ball, drive at their fullbacks. and make something happen, whether that's ending with a shot or whether that's ending with an assist, but it's the decision-making behind it. And I think for me, Doku wants to score more goals because when you look at the goals he's scored, he's not scored many goals this season.

35:52Daniel Sturridge:Semenyo is clearly a goal scorer. He's a guy who's actively trying to sniff goals out. But with Doku, I do see he's got a bit of a better connection with Haaland than maybe Semenyo has at the present time. Well, I'm going to ask you, because especially when you was at Chelsea, you scored, I think it was 10 goals and had 10 assists in that season. but he was playing wide right. So what is the difference? So because you wanted to play wide right, you wanted to come on to your left foot and there would have been, I know how selfish you could be on a football field. I did life. Listen to me. Hold on now, Kelz.

36:28Daniel Sturridge:No, you went too far with that one now. Hold on now. Both of y 'all can stop this right now. I don't like this. I feel like I'm centred. Centred out. You picked me up right there. Yeah, yeah, yeah. What's going on? But jokes aside, yes, I do believe when you're talking about playing on the wing and being a goal scorer, I came from a centre forward. Correct. So I'm a goal driven guy. That was always my game. I always thought, OK, if I score goals today, I feel like I've done my job. I remember a game we played away for Liverpool. I got man of the match and I was fuming because I didn't score. And I think for me, playing wide, I had to change my game and it was like, OK, this is what Didier wants.

37:06Daniel Sturridge:So then it got to a point where I do a skill and I was like, I need to find how I'm going to get down the line to use my right foot to cross it. Because when you rely on cutting in, you become predictable. OK, I'm going to cut in and I'm going to use my left foot. And I remember playing against you guys, actually. And Jolian kept saying, show him on his left, show him on his left. And I think that game I went to the right two times and actually think I won a penalty two times or got a goal, an assist and won a penalty. So to answer your question, the psychology behind it is you want to be a goal scorer.

37:36Daniel Sturridge:And I think Semenyo is that. I think with Doku, he's a bit different. Cherki, you can see he finds joy in getting assists. And that is the difference with him. And those are the types of players that strikers love to play with. And Montgai got man of the match and handed it over to Ryan Cherki at the end of the game on his way back down the tunnel. So he recognises the influence that he had on the game. Yes, he was so good today. He picked up so many different areas, the two-footedness. For me, he causes defenders so many different problems because he can go both ways. He's not afraid to take his time and slow the game down to himself.

38:13Daniel Sturridge:He's that unpredictability that Pep Guardiola has been yearning for because it became a little bit predictable at times last year. This season is brought in Cherki, who's come in and just brought a different level of creativity. Kevin De Bruyne has been absolutely magnificent throughout his Manchester City career. And this gentleman here is going to become the replacement. He's so, so good at what he does with this ball around his feet. It's a great finish there from Gehie, isn't it? But he just gets you on the edge of your sheet, doesn't he? In terms of the way he plays and what he wants to do.

38:49We just want to point out that that was Gary Neville's decision, not Sky Sports' decision. to give the man the match award to Mike Gehi, who handed it over to Ryan Shirky. But if he gets himself a Sharpie, he can write his name across the bottom of it and put it in a cabinet along with the rest of them. We are going to talk about this from the other side. Chelsea are now on a run of five defeats in the last six games. Four of them have been by a free goal margin. So we'll hear what Liam Rossini made of this latest defeat at the hands of Manchester City next.

39:51Transcription by CastingWords See you on Sunday mornings. This is the Sky Sports Premier League podcast. Let's get more analysis of the game and return to the student.

40:06Pep Guardiola then celebrating that 3-0 win, probably in a more sedate fashion. But Liam Rossini as Chelsea on a really difficult run of form at the moment. Let's hear from the Chelsea boss with Patrick Davison. Well, Liam, a tale of two halves. Would you agree? very competitive first half what would your word be for the second?

40:25Daniel Sturridge:Not good enough in the second half we didn't start the half well, had moments to clear our box, didn't have moments to keep the ball and didn't and they were camped in our half for the first five minutes and we can see the goal, it's a great cross and a great header and then it's a similar story for the past month now in terms of dealing with setbacks, when you go a goal down against a team as good as this what you have to do for the next five minutes and stay in the game before you know it's tuna. And then it becomes a really, really difficult half against an outstanding team. You want to chase the game, but you know if you do, with the players that they have, in the way that they play, they can keep possession of the ball.

41:02Daniel Sturridge:And yeah, it ended up being a really, really difficult second half. So how do you develop that type of resilience? It doesn't, I don't know, but it doesn't feel like something you can coach. No, it's not. This is, I'm accountable. This is a group. This is something that we have to improve. For me, it starts on the training pitch. It starts with your habits. It starts with your values. And we've already spoken about these things. But I can't say that there was a lack of effort, especially in the first half. I felt there was a lack of confidence in the second half. I felt we started losing possession of the ball too easily.

41:39Daniel Sturridge:Yeah, we have to improve because at the moment, we're in a difficult place and we've got another huge game next week. So is that a concern that maybe that psychological damage that was done in that difficult 10 days you talked about after the first PSG game, that maybe you hoped the international break and then the Port Vale game, that that cleared some of that damage, but actually it's still niggling away there somewhere. Yeah, we've got to remember, we're playing against a team who are in massive form, who are pushing for the title, but this club demands that we need to win games like this. That's why I've come to the club, is to help the club grow and improve.

42:15Daniel Sturridge:At the moment, we're not taking advantage. At the moment, the goal, The first goal was very, very difficult to stop. They do it very, very well. The second goal, we miss a tackle on the edge of the box. The third goal is an individual mistake. When you make these errors, the feeling and the flow of the game changes. And we have to make sure we do better with those moments if we want to win games of football. Is it another game, and you've talked about this after a few different matches, both boxes, not ruthless enough when you are on top, and then, like you said, some individual errors when they're on top?

42:41Daniel Sturridge:I think Cuckoo's offside. I saw an image of it on the big screen. It looked tight. It did look tight. It's not an excuse for the second half performance. But that goal goes in. We probably go up in terms of our confidence and our energy, but we have to be more resilient to setbacks. I think tactically, first half, we were very, very good. I felt that we denied the spaces that they wanted. We created moments, really good moments in transition. We have to stay in the game. You're playing against a very good team. You have to stay in the game. You can go a goal down. And that's the thing that disappointed me the most, was the fact that we didn't stay in the game at 1-0.

43:17Daniel Sturridge:Did you miss Enzo today? And I ask obviously because of the reason that he was out of the team. Any team will miss Enzo Fernandes. Myself, backed by the leadership group and the sport directors. We made a decision. I made a decision for the long time of the club. And there is nothing personal of Enzo. He will be back in the group on Tuesday when we report for training. He's a top, top player and he's a really, really good guy. And I'm really looking forward to having him back in the squad. Is that issue completely done now? Yes. It is. I think you said there was another hurdle. The hurdle, I'll make this really clear.

43:50Daniel Sturridge:Enzo, he wanted to have conversations with the leadership group, with the main players of the group, and then speak to the players. In the moment I had my press conference, he hadn't done that yet. That was the only issue, and I didn't want to say something and then retract that. What I would say is Enzo has spoken with me, he's spoken with the leadership group, all of the players in the squad, and we look forward to welcoming him back next week. And for all of you, how important now is togetherness to overturn that gap that's there between you and Liverpool and to achieve what you want to achieve this year, which could still be Champions League and could still be a trophy?

44:22Daniel Sturridge:It could be. And we have to focus on that, but we have to get the next bit right. We have to speak about how we come back from setbacks, how we get the first goal, how we don't concede the first goal. But that can happen in football. We have to recover from difficult moments and have some stability emotionally. And that's something that we'll work on next week. Thank you. Thank you. Well, Liam Messina talking at length about the kind of things that he wants to put in place at Chelsea to kind of make sure that his team delivers actually on the improvements that they have made in his time here. But the results are not coming, Daniel.

44:56That's five defeats in the last six, four of them by three goal margins. So where are they falling short?

45:03Daniel Sturridge:Defensively and individual mistakes, you know, and attacking-wise, to be honest, because for all the stats we talk about in terms of them being great, creating chances and all these different types of things, they're not putting the chances away. You know, the defeats that they've suffered in recently, bitterly disappointing, to say the least. And I think that the manager will know his expectation level of these players would be to kick on. He's had a bit more time with them now. He's trying to build something with them. And it's just not working out as it should. But when you look at those results for a club of Chelsea's magnitude, that can't be happening.

45:42Daniel Sturridge:The players aren't performing to the level they should be. The big-name players who were top players last season, who were performing to their level, haven't hit their level, hit the heights that they've hit over the course of their Chelsea careers. Very disappointing time for them. They've got big games coming. And to be honest, the most pivotal thing for Chelsea Football Club right now is ensuring they make that Champions League because we talk about the recruitment and all these things, but attracting players at a club without Champions League football is going to be very difficult for them.

46:12Not just attracting players. They find themselves four points behind Liverpool and Aston Villa who are inconsistent at this stage of the season. Four points and seven points isn't necessarily beyond Chelsea, certainly four points to overcome. But there are players who are at the club who are talking about possibly their future being elsewhere. where Mark Kukurea was making noises about being not unhappy, but maybe a little bit unsettled and not entirely satisfied with the transfer policy. And then you've got the Enzo Fernandes situation that Pat asked Liam Rossini about there as well. So it's not just about bringing players in and attracting them, Micah.

46:47It's about keeping the players they have as well. It's not good, though. I think some of the things that the players have said, I think there was alluding to the one, a few more experienced players. It's how can you build... Well, Mark Kukurea said that and he's 27. Yeah, but in terms of you need a few more. If you have a team where you're buying at, say, 18 to, say, 23, and you know about the resale value, we get all that sort of stuff. And if they stay here for a long period of time, that'll be fine because they can all grow together, they can build a team. However, when you look at Chelsea's back line today, was that going to be good enough to stop Man City's attack?

47:24And you have to say no. We showed stats before the game in terms of they're creating chances, but they're not taking them. And the manager said in his interview, it's about moments. At the moment, Chelsea are not taking the big moments in the games. And then once they concede a goal, they sort of capitulate. If you had a few more stronger characters, senior pros in a dressing room, it might just help on that front.

47:47Daniel Sturridge:Yeah, and I don't just think it's that. I also think it's players who are closer to being the finished article. You know, they spend, you know, 40, 50 million quid on players and no disrespect to them, but when you look at someone like a Kovar at Skellia at PSG, who for 70 million euros in January, they go and buy him and you saw the quality of what he did to Chelsea over two legs and you sort of think he was available, yet you go and buy multiple players when you could just spend more on one, that you have more of a sense that he's played Champions League football, he's done it at the highest level, we know what he's about and I think that's what it is.

48:23Daniel Sturridge:It's all good and well investing in potential, but sooner or later, potential is not enough. that's got to come true. So you have to buy senior players because those are the ones that lead by example. Those are the ones that will help these players develop into the players we hope they can become. Before those lawnmowers reach us, let's start looking ahead to what's coming up for you on Sky Sports. Right now on Sky Sports' main event, the final day of the Masters is underway. Rory McIlroy has got his fourth day underway. He has a share of the lead on 11 under par. The defending champion is off the first tee on Sky Sports Golf.

49:00Tied with Cam Young at the top of the leaderboard on 11 under par. You can follow all the action on Sky Sports Golf. Monday night football, Manchester United against Leeds United. 6.30 on Sky Sports Premier League for all the build-up and the reaction to the big stories of the weekend in the Premier League before they look at that game itself.

49:21also tomorrow Borla League featuring some familiar faces Sky Sports Plus and Sky Sports Mix what's coming up in week five we need a win desperately two victories two losses consistency a few injuries

49:36Daniel Sturridge:but we need a big result tomorrow we talked a great game today we need to talk a good game tomorrow I know yeah you say you talked a good game really lovely time both of you here today. It's been a fantastic day. It's certainly been a dramatic day here at Stamford Bridge because Manchester City have beaten Chelsea by three goals to nil. Next weekend, all eyes on the Etihad for City against Arsenal. At the moment, Arsenal are six points clear, but City are coming, ready or not.

50:12Thanks for listening to the Sky Sports Premier League podcast. Don't forget to hit follow so you don't miss an episode.