What Sterling did to show surprise trait as Pochettino loses it at Chilwell in Chelsea draw

All of the talk going into the game was about Cole Palmer. The 21-year-old was making his return to the Etihad Stadium for the first time since leaving Manchester City last summer.

Palmer has been a revelation since joining Chelsea for £42.5million, so it was inevitable that this would build into the narrative. In the build-up, though, it was almost forgotten that Raheem Sterling, too, would be making his return to the blue side of Manchester.

After seven trophy-laden years at the Etihad Stadium, Sterling left the Citizens to join Chelsea in the summer of 2022. But because it has been an on-and-off season for Sterling, all of the attention had been on the Blues' new golden boy Palmer.

Sterling made a statement on Saturday evening, though, scoring for the second time this season against his former side. After scoring Chelsea's second goal in the 4-4 thriller at Stamford Bridge back in November, it was time for Sterling to open the scoring against his old employers in Manchester.

He was being booed by a minority at the Etihad, so there may have been some temptation for the winger to celebrate, but he stayed respectful as his teammates jumped on him. It looked for 90 per cent of the game that it was going to be a match-winning goal, but Rodri was on hand – as he so often is when City need him – to ensure the points were shared.

Pep Guardiola was not happy in his post-match press conference as Chelsea forced his City side to lose valuable ground on Liverpool and Arsenal, who both won earlier in the day. Neither was striker Erling Haaland, who pushed a TV camera away from him at full-time after an uncharacteristically wasteful game in front of goal.

Every word Mauricio Pochettino said on Man City vs Chelsea, Sterling,