Manchester City's defensive problems must be tackled to reel in Liverpool | Jacob Steinberg

Christian Pulisic’s goal for Chelsea summed up City’s fragile season but an elite partner for Aymeric Laporte could change fortunes

They will not fight till the end this time, not even close. Even with Kevin De Bruyne pulling rabbits out of a hat, bending home a magnificent free-kick to give Manchester City hope at the start of the second half, this sublime but fragile side did not have enough to keep going. The race that never was is over with seven games to spare and for Pep Guardiola the challenge now is working out how to reel Liverpool in next season.

Sorting out that accident-prone defence would be a good place to start. That is the crux of the problem for City, who did not play many bad passes on a night when their fingers were wrenched off the trophy once and for all. The one time they got it wrong, though, it summed up why they are 23 points behind Liverpool. Benjamin Mendy let in Christian Pulisic for Chelsea’s opener and although City rallied after the interval, threatening to win after De Bruyne’s splendid equaliser, the enduring image in the end was of Fernandinho staring into the middle distance, waiting for the inevitable red card after clawing Tammy Abraham’s effort off the line.

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from Football | The Guardian https://bit.ly/3ezaaCJ