Pep Guardiola has explained why Manchester City were ‘lucky’ against Chelsea in the Premier League match on Saturday evening.
Noni Madueke gave the Blues the lead after just three minutes as new City defender Abdukodir Khusanov’s failed clearance allowed Nicolas Jackson to square the ball for an easy tap-in.
It took the home side until the 42nd minute to respond, as Josko Gvardiol equalised, while Erling Haaland and Phil Foden completed the turnaround in the second half.
Chelsea can have no complaints that they left Manchester with zero points after being thoroughly outplayed, but things could have gone differently if not for Cole Palmer’s blunder.

Shortly after Madueke put Chelsea in front, Palmer was through on goal with only the goalkeeper to beat.
Instead of shooting, he played the ball across to Jackson, which was not an issue because the striker would’ve had an open goal to aim for.
The problem was that Palmer overhit the pass and didn’t allow Jackson to finish into the open net with his first or second touch.
The Senegal international recovered the ball and set up Jadon Sancho for an effort on goal, but was comfortably blocked by Khusanov.
“Cole had the [chance to make it] 2-0,” Guardiola said in his post-match press conference. “Thankfully, he was so generous.
“Normally in that situation, Cole is a machine. We were lucky they didn’t score. After [that], we came back emotionally.”
And the Spaniard is right. You only have to rewatch Palmer’s goal against Bournemouth last week to see how expertly he usually converts those chances.
Had the 22-year-old doubled Chelsea’s lead, they could now be in fourth position in the Premier League table, one point behind Nottingham Forest.
As it stands, the West London club are sixth and only ahead of Bournemouth on goals scored. Champions League qualification suddenly looks unlikely.

Chelsea are over-reliant on Cole Palmer and it needs to change
Of course, Palmer should have either scored or assisted Jackson to make it 2-0. But the bigger issue for Enzo Maresca and his staff is that the team are too reliant on him.
Chelsea don’t create many clear-cut chances that Palmer is not involved in. Take Liverpool or Arsenal for example: their wide players do just as much damage as their central players.
Whether it be Madueke, Sancho or Pedro Neto, the Blues’ wingers simply don’t produce regularly enough.
The trio have 19 goal contributions combined in the Premier League this season, compared to 20 for Palmer alone.