‘Big turning point’ – Micah Richards names Chelsea star who made difference against Man City

Micah Richards heaped praise on Liam Delap after Chelsea’s 1-1 draw with Manchester City, claiming the striker’s introduction was the ‘big turning point’ in the match.

Having dropped points at Sunderland, City appeared to be heading back to winning ways as Tijjani Reijnders beat Filip Jorgensen at the near post to break the deadlock in the 42nd minute.

But Chelsea, led by Under-21 boss Calum McFarlane, dug deep and found an equaliser in the fourth minute of stoppage time through Enzo Fernandez, who poked the ball home from close range to salvage a point.

Given they may still have been digesting the news of Enzo Maresca’s departure just three days earlier, Chelsea’s squad received widespread praise for the spirit and togetherness they showed to fight back.

Liam Rosenior, the head coach of BlueCo-owned Strasbourg, has emerged as the clear frontrunner to pick up the pieces from Maresca ahead of Wednesday’s clash with London neighbours Fulham.

Analysing Sunday’s heavyweight contest on the latest episode of The Rest Is Football, ex-City and England defender Richards made a point of applauding McFarlane for the ‘conviction’ he showed in the second period.

‘At half-time, McFarlane wanted to win the game and they could have got embarrassed at the Etihad with Erling Haaland scoring goals,’ Richards said.

‘But it was the conviction he showed to say, “No, we’re going to have a go here”, and that says a lot about him as a manager and Chelsea as a squad, that they’re going to have a right go and it doesn’t matter who the manager is.

‘It looks like Liam Rosenior will get it.’

According to Richards, fifth-placed Chelsea started to look dangerous after Delap – who came through City’s academy – was brought on in place of Joao Pedro just past the hour-mark.

‘Manchester City are creating chances but just not taking them,’ Richards went on.

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Erling Haaland not scoring in three, they huffed and puffed against Sunderland, their xG was just under three goals in that game and then today… Haaland hits the post, [Phil] Foden normally sticks one of those [chances] away.

‘Estevao, in that first half, was almost playing like a wing-back and then they brought on a midfielder, Andrey Santos, and then they brought on Jorrel Hato at left-back as well which shored them up a little bit.

‘They moved Cole Palmer more into central positions where he could affect the game more.

‘But I think the big turning point of the game was Liam Delap. I thought his runs in behind, especially seeing it high up at the stadium, it just pushed City a little bit back and then City didn’t really know what to do with that.

‘That allowed Cole Palmer to play like I mentioned and they got a little bit of confidence.’

Regardless of who takes charge as manager, Richards feels Chelsea fans are likely to be disappointed if they expect the club to be challenging for the Premier League title in the near future.

‘It’s hard to know [what the objectives are for Chelsea’s next manager],’ he continued.

‘They’re bringing in the players and the way Chelsea are doing things is different to any other club.

‘But ultimately, from a fan point of view, they expect to be challenging for the league and winning trophies.

‘I don’t believe that Chelsea, with the squad they have, can challenge for the league and that’s why I think they’re going to be a Champions League team where they could beat anyone, like the Club World Cup or the Europa Conference League or whatever.

‘Realistically, they’re going to be challenging for top four and that’s what it is.’

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