Maurizio Sarri reckons that Chelsea were ‘lucky’ to beat Man City earlier this season, as the two Premier League giants prepare to face each other once again.
Chelsea inflicted the first defeat of the season on Man City back in December, earning a 2-0 win at Stamford Bridge courtesy of goals from N’Golo Kante and David Luiz.
It was one of the only games of the season in which Chelsea didn’t have the lions share of possession, finishing the game having seen just 38% of the ball, and having just eight shots compared to City’s 14.
However, with the two teams going head to head at the Etihad this weekend, Maurizio Sarri has said that the Blues were lucky to come away from that game with all three points, as well as saying that his side will need to defend equally as well if they are to get anything out of Sunday’s high profile game.
“I think that we were lucky because we scored in a very difficult moment of the match. Maybe we deserved to win in the second half, but we were lucky in the first as we scored in a difficult moment,” Sarri said in his pre-match press conference.
“It is not easy against City to give them three or four opportunities. They had scored 43 goals in 15 matches, so it is difficult and we need to defend well. We need to be very fast when we are able to recover the ball. They are able to press really very well so it is difficult to exit that situation. If we can do that then we can do well.”
City go into this weekend’s fixtures at the top of the Premier League, while Chelsea are in fourth.
