City, who took their score to 50 points, took advantage of the stumbling block of their new runner-up Chelsea to bring an eight-point lead. in top of the table and nine points behind Liverpool, who have slipped to third place.
In turn, Brentford remained in fourteenth place with 20 points, a point clear of Everton.
And at London’s Griffin Park, City scored their only Phil Foden (16) goal from great team play and a decisive pass from Belgian Kevin De Bruyne.
City played the game again without the trio Kyle Walker, John Stones and Spaniard Rodri, who also missed the “Boxing Day” match against Leicester City, which ended in a crazy victory for the “Citizens” 6-3 after they were in 4-0 lead at halftime before the match ends, Coach Brendan Rodgers’ team returns with a score of 3-4.
In light of these absences, Spanish manager Pep Guardiola made four changes to his squad, with Jack Grealish, Brazilian Gabriel Jesus, Dutchman Natan Aki and Foden as owners, while Raheem Sterling, German Ilkay Gundogan, the Ukrainian Alexander Zinchenko and Algerian Riyad Mahrez remained in field. the bench.
Brentford instead played the game without seven protagonists due to injury or Covid-19, including the German Vitaly Janelt due to the virus and the suspended Danish Christian Norgaard, in addition to the French Brian Mbomo, the Norwegian Christopher Agger, Josh DaSilva, Rico Henry and goalkeeper David Raya through injury.
The game did not start from one side as many thought, given that the first half was closed between the two sides, between reciprocal opportunities. The visitors had the most ball possession and could have scored more than a goal if they had had more flexibility in the last third of the pitch, but Brentford showed great cohesion against the league champions.
The difference in potential manifested itself clearly in the ability to resolve attacks, as did Foden when he benefited from a distinctive group attack which de Bruyne led with a splendid and perfect cross, followed by the first. in door (16).
The hosts, on the other hand, are pressing for the equalizer, also benefiting from two consecutive victories in home before this game.
City returned to control the ball in the second half, while Brentford withdrew to avoid receiving more goals and relied on counter-attacks, but to no avail.
City nearly added the second goal with Spaniard Emeric Laporte’s header after a free kick (87), but the referee disallowed the goal for offside after returning to assistant referee technique (VAR).
– Chelsea second, despite stumbling block – Chelsea advanced to second place but failed to move further away from Liverpool or tighten the screws on leaders Manchester City, after falling into the trap of a draw with a fatal goal against his host Brighton 1 -1.
Chelsea opened the scoring with Belgian striker Romelu Lukaku in the 28th minute, before Brighton equalized thanks to substitute Danny Welbeck in the first minute of added time for the second half.
Chelsea, who brought their score to 42 points, grabbed second-place Liverpool, relegated to third, after losing to Leicester City 0-1 on Tuesday, to bring them an orphaned point, knowing that the “Reds “have a postponed game. Chelsea are also 8 points behind Manchester City.
Chelsea returned to the draw cycle after winning Aston Villa 3-1 in the previous round after two consecutive draws against Everton and Wolverhampton, but kept the record unbeaten against Brighton for the sixth consecutive game in various competitions, getting 3 wins against the same number of draws.
Chelsea was not in able to use the numbers factor in his favor, as the two teams met 13 times in championship, winning 10 games and drawing three, while Brighton ended not hitting the net at Stamford Bridge in 6 games in a row, to be able to score against the “Blues” away from home at seven.
The men of the German coach Thomas Tuchel played the game in light of the numerous absences, in how much his national team defender Ben Chilwell underwent knee surgery which could keep him out of stadiums until the end of the season in course. Also absent were Brazilian defender Thiago Silva after suffering a thigh injury on Sunday in the victory over Aston Villa, and Germans Timo Werner and Ruben Loftus-Cheek after being infected with the Corona virus.
Instead, he sat on the bench of the French N’Golo Kante, injured in front of Aston Villa in the knee before entering in the 67th minute in place of Callum Hudson-Odoi, and of the other German forward Kai Havertz, who returned to training afterwards the absence from the last matches due to the Corona virus.
The coach of the “Blues”, Tuchel, pushed in forward Lukaku in head, supported by Mason Mount and the American Christian Pulisic.
At Stamford Bridge, Chelsea press at the start of the first half, and their Spanish captain, Cesar Aspilicueta, throws a ball and the goal is blocked by the right post (17), before Lukaku scores from a corner kick. head of the Italian Jorginho (28), one minute after the defender’s entry, the Spaniard Marcos Alonso replaces Ricky James, injured, to make Chelsea lose the efforts of the other Danish defender Andreas Christensen through injury, to replace Trevo Chalobah at the start of the second half.
Senegalese goalkeeper Edouard Mendy prevented Brighton from achieving the equalizer, and in four minutes he saved the shot of captain Adam Lallana (38) and the second for defender Tariq Lamptey (42).
Mendy continued his brilliance in the second half and blocked a shot from Malian Yves Bisoma (53), before countering Argentine Alexis McAllister (60), who returned the ball to French striker Neil Moby without questlast managed to score (60).
Brighton scored the equalizer after Spanish defender Marc Cucurea scissors cross to injured replacement Welback (who replaced Mac Alistair in the 80th minute) followed by a far corner header from goalkeeper Mendy (90 + 1).
Read More About: Sports News
