Manchester City-Chelsea: Disasi puts Haaland on fine, the tops and flops

Tops

Raheem Sterling, who reunited with his former club at the Etihad Stadium, was by far the most dangerous Blues player offensively. Going on goal in the 33rd minute, he missed his last move but recovered well in the 42nd minute, hooking Kyle Walker.

Axel Disasi excelled in his role as central defender and perfectly stopped Erling Haaland's attacks. His association with Colwill worked perfectly. He won 4 of his 6 duels and completed 25 of his 29 passes.

Cole Palmer, 21, returned to the Etihad Stadium for the first time since leaving the club this summer. Scorer ten times this season in 24 matches played, he did not score this evening but largely put the Citizens midfielder in difficulty and in particular Rodri, in difficulty before his equalizer with a powerful strike. He completed 95% of his passes (19/20) before being replaced by Chalobah in the 71st minute.

Flops

Often caught by the Blues defense, the 23-year-old Norwegian striker did not have the role that the Citizens expected of him. He managed to rise several times to head crosses but never managed to bring them down to allow the Citizens to come back. He only scored two of his nine attempted shots. He only worried Petkovic once, with a hard shot on the goalkeeper in the 66th minute. Alone in the center, he completely missed his final, slightly dangerous header in the 78th minute.

The Argentine striker, positioned further back than usual, ruined everything in attack. The 2022 world champion missed four of his five duels, and missed none of his five attempts. He also lost six balls before coming out in the 64th minute. Replaced by Bernardo Silva.

The Belgian midfielder, often described as a "magician", had a performance below his usual standards against Chelsea. His successful pass rate was just 21%, well below his usual average (50 successful passes out of 63 attempts), and he lost four of his six duels. Despite his attempts at set pieces, he was unable to create dangerous chances, often left to his own devices by his teammates. In addition, most of his crosses missed their target, with only 8 successes out of 22 attempts.