Manchester City ended the year 2021 with an eight-point lead in the English Premier League (EPL) after Pep Guardiola’s boys managed to beat Brentford 1-0 in an away fixture. English midfielder Phil Foden's first-half goal earned Man City a 1-0 victory on December 29 (Wednesday).
Foden stroked home in the 16th minute from attacking midfielder Kevin de Bruyne's pass and it was sufficient enough to seal a 10th successive league win for Pep’s defending champions.
De Bruyne could have scored one goal but the Belgian hit the post after the break and both Foden and defender Aymeric Laporte had their goals disallowed as City sought to score an insurance goal.
Though, City eventually managed to hold on with few real scares to reach 50 points from 20 games, with Chelsea on 42 points from 20 and Liverpool on 41 having played one game less than the top two teams.
"Round Christmas you have to keep your foot on the gas and keep focused. This team is doing that," goal scorer Foden said after the match
With this defeat Brentford remain in 14th place, with only nine points above the relegation zone.
One point for Chelsea
Thomas Tuchel's Chelsea, on the other hand, seemed poised enough to secure full three points after striker Romelu Lukaku gave them a first-half lead but Brighton substitute Danny Welbeck struck in stoppage time to earn a point for the visitors.
The home side went ahead when Belgian Lukaku shook off the attentions of Brighton’s Neal Maupay after a tussle to shoot a header past goalkeeper Robert Sanchez from a Mason Mount corner.
Defeat seemed almost certain for Brighton but striker Welbeck had some other ideas as the English substitute headed home Marc Cucurella's cross in the stoppage time (91st minute).
Furious Tuchel
Chelsea coach Thomas Tuchel felt his side should have had a penalty in the second half when Christian Pulisic went to ground following a tackle by Joel Veltman and the 48-year-old German was frustrated by referee Mike Dean's decision to penalise Mount before he put the ball into the empty Brighton net.
“Honestly, I would never normally say it, but we have a 100 per cent penalty against Christian Pulisic and we have a 50-50 challenge from Mason Mount right before the equaliser when the ball is going into the net," Tuchel said in the post-match press conference.
