Chelsea 4 Manchester City 4: tactical analysis

Chelsea had lost six in a row to Manchester City following their 2021 Champions League final victory over the same opposition. In that time, the London side had failed to score a single goal against City, who finally claimed a European crown of their own in 2023. In this Premier League thriller, both Chelsea’s losing streak and goalless run against City ended spectacularly at a sodden Stamford Bridge.

It had to be City old boy – but very much prodigious talent – Cole Palmer, to score Chelsea’s fourth and added-time equaliser. Less than a week after putting four past nine-man Tottenham, Mauricio Pochettino’s men had their shooting boots on again. So too did Manchester City, as Pep Guardiola’s champions took and surrendered the lead on three occasions in this ding-dong encounter.

Erling Haaland opened the scoring from the spot on 25 minutes, with Thiago Silva and Raheem Sterling responding to put Chelsea 2-1 up. Manuel Akanji headed in a Bernardo Silva cross to level for City on the stroke of half-time. It summed up the contest that a lead couldn’t be sustained until the break.

Within two minutes of the restart, Haaland bundled the visitors in front again. Chelsea didn’t buckle, however, and Nicolas Jackson made it 3-3 on 67 minutes. Pochettino’s side needed to dig deep again when Rodri’s deflected shot gave City a 4-3 lead late on. Rúben Dias duly fouled substitute Armando Broja to hand Chelsea a lifeline, which Palmer grabbed by emphatically dispatching the penalty.

How the managers saw it

Pochettino highlighted the psychological aspect of his team’s performance: “We showed the mentality, showed the character, showed also that we have the tools, against a team like Manchester City, to go for goals and to dominate, and we have the capacity to create chances.”

“It was a tight game,” said Guardiola. “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. It was a fair result – both teams played to win.”

Below, our professional analysts have picked out the key tactical points from the game…

Playing over

Manchester City operated in a 3-2-4-1 shape in possession, with Manuel Akanji moving from central defence to join Rodri, in John Stones’ absence. But City’s build-up was not as clean as usual. From Chelsea’s 4-4-2 mid-block, Conor Gallagher often screened access into City’s closest pivot to the ball.

Chelsea’s double pivot ensured passes into City’s number 10s – Bernardo Silva and Julián Álvarez – were covered well. In response, Guardiola’s team played balls over Chelsea’s full-backs, aiming to get Jérémy Doku and Phil Foden in behind (below).

Doku and Foden were the visitors' brightest sparks in the first half. Whenever City locked Chelsea into a deeper block, clipped passes over the full-backs found their wingers. From there, Doku and Foden worked crosses and shots on goal. Unless transitional spaces opened up, Haaland, Silva and Álvarez were difficult to find between the lines (below). 

Chelsea also threatened by playing over. In their case, it came from passes over the first two lines of City’s 4-4-2 high press, rather than targeting spaces behind the back line.

Cole Palmer rolled inside to help overload City’s central midfield. When he was tracked inwards by Josko Gvardiol, Reece James had ample space to overlap from right-back. The relationship and timing of movements between Palmer and James created Chelsea’s best moments, often coming after direct play through, or especially over, City’s press (below).

Whenever Palmer narrowed unmarked, he could receive and link with the front pairing of Nicolas Jackson and Raheem Sterling. The latter looked to move very high from his initial positioning as the left winger (above).

Half-time changes 

Pochettino’s first change saw Palmer moved into the number 10 position. Sterling stayed wider on the left, no longer coming inside as aggressively as in the first half. Conor Gallagher then moved briefly to a wide-right role.

Despite Sterling causing problems for Kyle Walker, Mykhailo Mudryk was added to Chelsea’s left side in the 64th minute, in place of Enzo Fernández. Sterling moved across to the right and Gallagher dropped to play alongside Caicedo in the double pivot. Palmer’s adaptive movements as a 10 gave Chelsea a strong platform from which to play through City’s unusually unstable central midfield (below).

Guardiola’s main change at the break involved Akanji no longer moving into central midfield as a second pivot. Instead, City built in a 4-3-3 and focused on individual movements, receiving and outplaying 1v1 in almost all areas of the pitch (below).

The only area they overloaded in possession was around Jackson, as the centre-backs then stepped into midfield. This allowed City’s number eights to reposition and provide inside-channel runs much more effectively than in the first half. As a result, Silva and Álvarez became much more influential between the lines. Silva especially contributed in various spaces and positions (above).

Attacking transitions

As neither team particularly dominated the ball, nor territories, both sides created multiple transitional attacks. Haaland dropped into midfield, often pulling his centre-back marker with him. This disrupted Chelsea’s back line and created gaps for penetrative movements for the closest winger. As Chelsea’s back line then narrowed, the winger on the far side was available through quick switches of play (below).

Doku and Foden repeatedly drove forward around Chelsea’s back line, ready to cross or connect with Haaland, as seen with City’s third goal. Jack Grealish replaced Doku in the 59th minute, but the connections and combinations inside continued – as with Foden finding Haaland, who teed up Rodri for their deflected fourth goal.

Chelsea’s attacking transitions often came through Sterling on their left side. Sterling consistently drove at Walker, often progressing deep into the final third. Rodri eventually came over to support inside Walker, attempting to delay Sterling and defensively overload the wide areas. However, this created ideal pockets of space for Palmer to receive and create as Chelsea’s number 10 and most influential attacker (below).

Whenever Palmer was marked or tracked, late runs from Fernández (later Gallagher) or Caicedo, exploited centrally. Chelsea had little attacking output when Gallagher was wide right, focusing more on their left-side combinations between Sterling and Palmer. 

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