Manchester City extends their lead, Chelsea locked level with Brighton

Manchester City continues to dominate as they have registered another win in the Premier League. Against Brentford, it was supposed to be easy as City has been winning games pretty easily and Brentford aren’t a team who’s known for their defensive structure. Even after that, they defended well and went down against the Citizens by a single goal scored by Phil Foden. Foden, who was missing from the starting XI for the last few games made his return and did his job in the 16th minute of the match.

It wasn’t easy for the Manchester club. Pep Guardiola was at the edge of his seat as City was leading just by a single goal and Brentford was doing their best to lock level. Aymeric Laporte’s goal gave breathing space to Pep and his team but it was taken away after VAR cancelled the goal. However, with possession in their legs, City killed the game and registered an important three points in this crucial juncture of the tournament. The club is now 8 points clear of the second placed Chelsea and 9 points clear of Liverpool, who have a game in hand.

Even after being so far ahead against their opponents, Guardiola doesn’t want to be complacent. Speaking to BBC after the match, the Spaniard said, “There are 54 points to play for”. He added, “In December, no one is champion. We are going to lose games. I see in my mind Arsenal, Chelsea and Southampton coming. I cannot say more than Congratulations to the team but we must focus”.

When everything is going in City’s favour, things are simply not working for Chelsea. Many pundits and fans expected Chelsea to shine bright under Thomas Tuchel and they were as well but their train has been derailed in recent times. Against Brighton, the blues should have picked up all three points but they conceded a goal in the 91st minute and thus dropped two points at home. There are too many injuries in the Chelsea camp and that is definitely bothering the coach. Just before Romelu Lukaku’s goal in the 38th minute, Reece James had to be substituted after the young Englishman suffered a hamstring injury.

FA also needs to step in at this moment. When the La Liga players are enjoying their vacation, players in the Premier League are playing 2 matches in 48 or 72 hours. Thus, they are becoming injury prone and it is becoming a big problem for the team. Thomas Tuchel in the post match presser was frustrated as he said, “We have another two changes because of injuries (James and Christensen) so in the dressing room they are completely, completely exhausted but it is the same subject every single match day now”.