Jack Grealish thought he had blown his chance to set up Riyad Mahrez for Manchester City's winner at Chelsea, as well as admitting that he wasn't even aiming for the goalscorer at the back post.
City had to make changes at half-time to take control of the clash with Chelsea, before bringing on Grealish and Mahrez to inject some energy for the final half-hour.
And within three minutes, Kevin De Bruyne slipped in Grealish, who sent a perfect ball across goal to Mahrez at the back post to score. However, Grealish admitted that his initial reaction was that the cross was too close to Chelsea goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga.
ALSO READ: Man City player ratings vs Chelsea as Stones and Mahrez excellent
Luckily for Grealish, Kepa withdrew his arms at the last second, and Mahrez got a tap-in that earned City a vital three points. Grealish also admitted, though, that he was equally concerned that Erling Haaland wasn't attacking the ball as he had hoped when he opted to cross.
Grealish told Sky Sports: "The manager said, when you come on, be aggressive, attack [Cesar] Azpilicueta, and stay high and wide. I was speaking to Riyad, he thought the keeper would get it and so did I.
"I put my head down, straight away I thought 'Erling's got to be somewhere!' He's always in there. I said: 'Where were you?' He said: 'Because everyone went so I pulled back'. I thought the keeper was going to get it at one point. When it went across, I thought I played it too close."
Grealish also revealed that he may not have been introduced alongside Mahrez if he hadn't joined the Algerian to warm up when Guardiola wanted to make another change.
He explained: "We were warming up together saying we'd love to come on, the game felt so open. We've had games against Everton, Brentford who had a back five, sat in against us. Today was a back four, it was so much more open, saying we were desperate to come on. The manager told Riyad to warm up, he didn't actually tell me. I thought I'm going to warm up, the next thing I know he told me to come on!"
READ NEXT:
