Manchester City's ability to call upon multiple quality reinforcements from the bench will help them keep the title pressure on Arsenal, according to their game-changing substitute Jack Grealish.
City were poor in the first half at Chelsea on Thursday, but Pep Guardiola made a double substitution at half time to correct his failed formation experiment, and then called for Grealish and Riyad Mahrez on the hour mark to inject more energy into the attack. Within three minutes, Grealish set up Mahrez for the game's only goal, and City returned to within five points of Arsenal.
While Grealish admitted he would have preferred to start the game, he pointed to City's strength in depth as a title advantage - something that was highlighted by pundits and commentators after Arsenal's bench on Tuesday vs Newcastle had few game-changing options and they went on to drop points.
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“You know with the talent here that you are never going to play in every single game," Grealish said.
"I have obviously started the last couple of games. That is what I want to do, contribute with goals and assists, but the main thing tonight was the three points.”
“[Squad depth] is massive. You can see tonight that we have a world class starting 11, but sometimes the manager wants to change it up and he brought on subs. I think we made all five subs tonight. We have a brilliant bench, a brilliant starting 11 and that is what you need if you are going to win titles and cups.”
Grealish continued with the title race talk, insisting that City are ready to pounce on any further slip-ups Arsenal make.
“It is massive, honestly," Grealish said of City's three points at Chelsea. "Everyone knows how hard a place [Stamford Bridge] is to come. We are chasing Arsenal down and I don’t want to go too much into that, but it is what we know. They are ahead of us at the moment and playing well, but we know that we can win our games and just keep improving and playing as a team so we are there or thereabouts.
"We are just concentrating on ourselves at the moment and trying to win as many games as possible. We dropped points [against Everton], so it can happen. Going forward, we are just trying to put in good performances, win as many games as possible and I am sure we will be ready to pounce if they do slip up.”
And after registering his third assist in as many games, having contributed none before the World Cup, Grealish admitted after the Chelsea win that he's happier to be the provider rather than the goalscorer if it means his side win games.
"Especially when you put it on a plate for someone and all they have to do is tap it in, Like the Erling [Haaland] one against Leeds and tonight," Grealish explained.
"They're the best types, because you feel like you've done a lot of the work. I'm the exact same as Kev [De Bruyne]. Obviously, there's no better feeling in football than scoring a goal. But honestly, assisting is just as good sometimes because you feel like you've done your job."
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