Pochettino Convinced Chelsea Can Compete With The Best After Man City Classic

The two sides served up a Premier League classic at Stamford Bridge in a game that will live long in the memory.

In the end it was former Manchester City boy Cole Palmer who had the final say with a stoppage time penalty that ensured the spoils were shared after Rodri appeared to have given the visitors the win four minutes from time with a deflected long range effort that wrongfooted Chelsea goalkeeper Robert Sanchez.

This is a Chelsea side still under construction after a lot of personnel changes over the last 18 months but Pochettino was impressed with how they went toe-to-toe with Pep Guardiola's European champions.

“I’m very proud,” he said. “I’m so happy. The players deserve credit, the performance this evening was amazing, against for me the best team in the world.

“Many circumstances that happened during the game that made me proud, the way that we managed the game was really, really good.

“There are things to improve, but it’s the process. When you want to build a project from zero, this type of thing is really good.

“These types of experiences will improve a lot out play and our team. But now we need to translate in the future.

“I am so tired, after Monday (the 4-1 win against Tottenham) and Sunday. I don’t want to be wrong when I assess, but if I go back, we were very disappointed (in earlier) results but this is a process. It’s a young team, you feel the pressure to win.

“This type of performance will build belief and confidence. (But) we have to have patience in some games.”