The top scorer in the Premier League had nine attempts on goal, which was the most he has ever had in a single match without scoring in any of his 79 Manchester City appearances.

Even though the hosts were losing 1-0 late in the game, Kevin de Bruyne’s cross was a great opportunity for the Norwegian.

Erling Haaland, who did not score in any of Manchester City’s games, had an xG of 1.71, his best expected goals total.

Erling Haaland discovered in his team’s Saturday match against Chelsea that even the greatest strikers can have a bad day.

The top scorer in the Premier League had nine attempts on goal, which was the most he has ever had in a single match without scoring in any of his 79 Manchester City appearances.

Even though the hosts were losing 1-0 late in the game, Kevin de Bruyne’s cross was a great opportunity for the Norwegian. When he met it, Haaland was directly in front of the goal, but the ball went wide.

It looked like City’s lengthy winning streak at Etihad Stadium, which dates back to November 2022, was about to come to an end at that point. However, Rodri had other plans, as his goal in the 83rd minute ultimately broke Chelsea’s back.

Pep Guаrdiоlа, the mаnаger оf City, аttributed the drаw оn а subpаr first hаlf rаther thаn his stаr striker’s incаpаcity tо hit the net. Despite this, City hаs lоst distаnce tо Liverpооl аnd аrsenаl in the title rаce аnd wаs unаble tо find а winner.

“He will score in the next game.”

Haaland attempted seven shots, one of which soared over the crossbar in the first minutes after Julian Alvarez’s cross.

Only two of his shots tested Chelsea keeper Djordje Petrovic, despite his xG, or expected goals, of 1.71, which was again his most without a goal in any City game.

Haaland missed a great opportunity to score from a Phil Foden cross with his feet as well, missing the mark on his volley.

Guardiola, though, refused to hold his 23-year-old striker responsible for the lost points and cited his scoring history as the reason he will not begin coaching the Norwegian to find the back of the goal. Guardiola remarked afterward, “It’s good he had nine shots; he is going to score the next game.”

“Hey, I used to play football. I have 11 years of playing and 11 goals. How about that statistic?

“My stats are one goal per season. I am therefore not the right person to counsel the strikers on what to do. He had the opportunities, we generated them, and he was going to score the next game.

“I don’t hold that against [him]… It’s football, and it’s people. We simply did not play at our best in the first half as a team or a group.

“We should have won.”

After trailing to a goal from former City striker Raheem Sterling, Guardiola thought his team bounced back nicely and claimed they should have won the match despite being so close to losing.

He went on, “The way we played, we deserved to win.” “I have no doubt that we deserved it given the opportunities we had.

“They had their opportunities with the transition, and the first half was tight.” Even though our dynamic was off, we still had two or three good opportunities.

But when we scored a goal, we got into the game. We responded to Raheem Sterling’s goal, and our play and execution in the second half were excellent.

Rodri laments his subpar defence.

With his goal, Rodri continued his impressive record of 55 games without a loss, dating back more than a year.

But after what he considered to be a weak defensive showing prior to the break, the Spanish midfielder thought City did not deserve more and believed that several crucial decisions had gone against his team.

“We obviously want to win, and the way we played in the second half, we deserved a little bit more, but when you defend like we did, you can’t get more,” he remarked. “It’s a point, a draw.”

“We held the power, and we must improve on our own acts. We cannot allow the game to continue in this manner. I’m not pointing fingers, but if we want to win the league, we need to accept accountability.

“I felt like we had momentum and we had opportunities to win, but sometimes the ball just doesn’t go in. It can be frustrating.”

“Cоme оn, guy, I dоn’t wаnt tо trаsh аbоut the referee, but I cаn’t recаll а gаme where there were sо mаny VаR checks аnd nоne fоr us. The referee’s fаce is аlwаys visible, аnd the messаge is nоw tо “mоve оn, mоve оn.”

Due to the outcome, City now sits third in the standings, four points behind leaders Liverpool, but they still have a game remaining. If they defeat Brentford at home on Tuesday, they will be able to reduce the difference and pass second-place Arsenal.

“The season’s end is still a long way off,” Rodri continued. “We need to defeat Brentford.

We knew that none of the three of us—City, Liverpool, and Arsenal—would win every game until the very end, even if we were on a really strong run. We must have a resilient mindset and go on to the next one.