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Chelsea had three goals disallowed for offside but still managed to claim a 2-1 win at the Etihad Stadium to delay Manchester City’s title celebrations.

City would have been confirmed as champions with a win, but despite taking the lead, they were pegged back. Sergio Aguero missed a penalty in humiliating fashion and Chelsea were ultimately shown a way back into the game. The visitors could have had more if they had timed their runs better but still managed to win it late on.

Both teams went into the game on the back of Champions League matches in midweek that had seen them book their place in the final.

City made nine changes from their semi-final lineup, with Ederson and Ruben Dias keeping their places. Chelsea, on the other hand, kept five of their starting lineup from Wednesday’s action.

The hosts had bundles of attacking quality on the pitch and one of their forwards, Ferran Torres, had a decent chance early on. He raced forward but couldn’t divert a shot on target.

There was a nervous moment for City when Raheem Sterling made a studs-up challenge. However, the referee only showed him a yellow card and VAR upheld the original decision.

As the intensity increased, Rodri struck a powerful effort from outside the box, but it was blocked by a Chelsea body.

Neither team was yet to record a shot on target as the game passed the half-hour mark. Chelsea had been probing without finding that final pass, while all four of City’s efforts up to that point had missed the target.

Chelsea didn’t miss the target, though, when Timo Werner tapped the ball home in the 32nd minute. However, he was offside by a considerable distance.

Werner was played through again shortly after but hit his shot wide without any curl on it.

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At the other end, Sterling drove inside and the ball bounced up for him after N’Golo Kante tried to tackle him. Sterling shot instinctively but Edouard Mendy was equal to it.

As half-time approached, City’s captain for the day gave them the lead. Gabriel Jesus set up Aguero, but the Argentine was unable to get the ball out of his feet to tap into an empty goal. Fortunately for his team, Sterling raced into the ball’s path and grabbed the goal for himself.

Then, in stoppage time, City won a penalty when Billy Gilmour clipped Jesus. Chelsea felt aggrieved as they only had 10 players on the pitch at that moment, as they were trying to replace the injured Andreas Christensen with Kurt Zouma.

The penalty gave Aguero another chance to get on the scoresheet, but once again, he didn’t make the most of it.

The striker tried to deftly dink it down the middle of the goal, but Mendy read his intentions and had an easy save.

Oh no, Sergio

Aguero’s Panenka penalty does not go to plan…

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Chelsea level things up

Chelsea sensed their opportunity to get back in the game and Werner had a chance, but he put it wide.

The equaliser did come though, just after the hour mark. Rodri was caught in possession and Chelsea pounced, with some good link-up play between Cesar Azpilicueta, Christian Pulisic and Hakim Ziyech.

The former set up the latter who fired a powerful shot into the bottom corner from the edge of the box.

Reece James then created a chance for Chelsea to turn things around completely. The wing-back played the ball across the face of goal but Werner was unable to meet it.

A similar avenue saw James cross in the air for Werner, but once more, the striker failed to connect.

City needed to find a response to get back in front. A chance came when Jesus ran through, but he struggled to break free from the crowd and hit it wide.

It was Chelsea who found the back of the net next, though – but Werner was offside again. The German rounded Ederson and slotted home, but had been a couple of yards the wrong side of the defence.

The linesman had his flag up again when Callum Hudson-Odoi tapped home a low cross from James, who continued to be a major threat. After a VAR check, it was confirmed that the substitute was marginally off.

Close…

Callum Hudson-Odoi thinks he has won it for Chelsea but he is ruled offside

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Chelsea win it late on

City kept hunting for a winner themselves and Phil Foden flicked an effort wide.

They had appeals for another penalty when Sterling went down under a challenge from Zouma. This time, it wasn’t awarded.

Chelsea went straight down the other end and tried to get in front. Marcos Alonso tried to lob Ederson from a wide angle but didn’t get enough height on his shot.

With the game in stoppage time, the visitors got the winner. It was slightly messy, but it didn’t matter, as Alonso helped divert the ball in to complete the comeback.

It means City have to wait a little longer to get their hands on the trophy. Chelsea, meanwhile, have risen to third.

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