By DAVIDSON ABRAHAM, Middle East
Riyad Mahrez climbed off the bench to fire Manchester City to a 1-0 win at Chelsea and cut the deficit to Premier League leaders Arsenal back to five points. City, who were held to a draw by Everton on New Year’s Eve, were facing more frustration against an injury-hit Chelsea side at Stamford Bridge.
But less than three minutes after coming on as substitutes with an hour gone, Jack Grealish teed up Mahrez for the winner which keeps Arsenal firmly in their sights. It also inflicted another defeat on Chelsea, still looking unconvincing under Graham Potter but who gave City plenty of problems, particularly in the first half despite a double injury blow.
Already without six players, including Reece James and Mason Mount, their evening got off to a bad start when Raheem Sterling was caught by his old City team-mate John Stones in the opening moments and limped off.
Haaland fed Grealish down the left and Kepa bafflingly allowed the England winger’s low cross to run straight to the far post, where Mahrez had evaded Marc Cucurella to give himself a simple finish. By contrast to City’s, the Chelsea bench looked distinctly callow but Potter still replaced ineffective first-half substitute Aubameyang with teenager Omari Hutchinson.
Their best chance of an equaliser fell to another young substitute, Lewis Hall, who fired over the crossbar in stoppage time. So City kept the pressure on Arsenal in a title race which will now be on the backburner for FA Cup weekend, upon which these two sides meet again at the Etihad on Sunday.
