Former Chelsea forward, Daniel Sturridge has blamed Mauricio Pochettino for allowing Manchester City to have the upper hand during the closing stages of Saturday’s 1-1 draw at the Etihad.

With Chelsea leading 1-0, Pochettino subbed off goalscorer Raheem Sterling, and Cole Palmer inside the final 20 minutes of the game, as Christopher Nkunku and Trevoh Chalobah came on to try and help preserve the lead. The Argentine also took off Nicolas Jackson for Cesare Casadei moments later.

The decisions didn’t quite help Chelsea, it turned out, as Rodri ended up finding an equaliser for Man City, after an endless onslaught from the hosts.

In his post-match analysis, Sturridge blamed Pochettino for taking off his attackers, and claimed his substitutions worked to the advantage of Pep Guardiola’s side.

“See for me, things are going nice, counter attacks, chops and changes, combinations, all these types of things…,” the former Chelsea, City and Liverpool forward said on Sky Sports.

“I’m thinking as the attacker we can get more chances. They didn’t have a shot after 70 minutes. They had gone to five at the back.

“They were so threatening in the second-half with Jackson still doing his thing and the two most threatening players [Sterling and Palmer] came off the pitch!”