Chelsea head coach Mauricio Pochettino gave credit to his players and coaching staff for Saturday’s 1-1 draw at Manchester City.

The Blues went into this weekend’s clash at the Etihad Stadium as huge underdogs, but managed to frustrate the reigning champions and were unlucky not to have scored more themselves.

Raheem Sterling broke the deadlock just before the break to cap off an excellent first half for Chelsea. City threw everything at their visitors in the second half but needed a late goal from Rodri to rescue a point.

Speaking in his post-match press conference, Pochettino explained that Chelsea had to be brave as well as solid defensively in order to leave Manchester with something.

“It’s about the players to deliver on the job,” Pochettino said. “They showed character today.

“I think we tried to prepare, all the coaching staff, to prepare and make the game plan and sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.

“But football is a game that belongs to the players and today the execution and performance was from them.

“We know very well how Manchester City play here at the Etihad and it’s important to sustain the capacity to dominate and force you to play deep.

“And if you are not brave enough when you have the ball and you force them to run back and make effort, then it’s going to be like in the second half, you cannot leave your box or own half.

“For us, it was a really important game to keep the momentum, to realise we are in a good way and improving.

“Still we are not at the level of Manchester City but that is our aim and of course, we are a very young team that needs this type of game to improve and to create a spirit that we need to show in every single game.

“You want to be competitive because I think from the beginning we were one of the best teams in the way we perform, create chances and I think after 15 games, we deserved to be in the top four.

“But football is not only to show good quality and be nice, it’s to be competitive and today the team has definitely showed we can be competitive also and play well.”