Mauricio Pochettino has shared his thoughts on Raheem Sterling, following his performance for Chelsea during the 1-1 Premier League draw with Manchester City on Saturday evening.

Sterling put Chelsea in front in the closing stages of the first half, as the Blues looked to cause an upset at the Etihad stadium, but Rodri later equalised for Man City to make sure the spoils were shared.

Ahead of the game, Pochettino told Sterling and Cole Palmer to go on and celebrate if they scored a goal against their former team, but the 29-year-old chose to keep things rather calm after sending Chelsea 1-0 up in the first period.

In his post-match reaction, Pochettino was asked about Sterling’s performance, but the Argentine refused to criticise the Chelsea star.

“It’s important, his experience and of course an offensive player needs to score to feel confidence and he was working really hard for the team,” said Pochettino.

“He defended well, he was always in the right position to help the team when needing to make the effort, being in a position to help the defensive line and [Ben] Chilwell.

“Yes, so important performance. So happy and he is helping to achieve a good point for us.”

The result from Manchester took Chelsea back into the top 10 of the league table, but the Blues now trail fourth-placed Aston Villa with 14 points.