‘It’s always difficult’

Manchester City failed to shrug off the absence of Rodri in a 11 draw at Newcastle on Saturday as they dropped Premier League points for the second consecutive gameThe Spaniard has been ruled out for the rest of the season due to a serious knee injury picked up in last weekendrsquos fiery 22 draw with title rivals ArsenalGvardiol scores for CityJosko Gvardiol put the visitors in front at St Jamesrsquo Park but Newcastle were well worthy of the point given to them by Anthony Gordonrsquos secondhalf penalty A point edges City two points clear at the top of the table but they could be overtaken by Liverpool Aston Villa and Arsenal by the end of the weekendPep GuardiolaGuardiola described Rodri who is unbeaten in his past 52 Premier League appearances stretching back to February 2023 as ldquoirreplaceablerdquo but vowed to find a collective solution Teenager Rico Lewis was thrust forward into a central midfield role alongside Mateo KovacicBut City lacked the control and poise so often provided by Rodri on and off the ball ldquoIt is always difficult here with their physicality and they defend so deep We had chances but Nick Pope the goalkeeper was brilliant so we take the pointrdquo said Guardiola ldquoWe made bad decisions with the chances to make it 20rdquoNewcastle have lost only one of their six Premier League games this season but until now results have been better than the performances from Eddie Howersquos men ldquoThat was a good display that was us playing our way braverdquo said Howe ldquoIt was two teams going right at each other for probably 70 minutes Last 20 minutes they were stronger than us and we had to defend really well to maintain the pointrdquoCityrsquos second successive draw in the league was especially frustrating as Arsenal moved level on points with them with a lastgasp 42 win against Leicester a few hours laterWhen scores were level at 22 Mikel Artetarsquos men stole the points four minutes into stoppage time when Trossardrsquos shot deflected off Leicesterrsquos Wilfred Ndidi for an own goal with Kai Havertz netting moments later to confirm the victoryChelsearsquos Palmer nets fourMeanwhile Cole Palmer scored four times in 20 firsthalf minutes to make Premier League history as Chelsea beat Brighton 42 to move up to thirdThe Blues had trailed early on as Georginio Rutter took advantage of a calamity of errors in the Chelsea defence to head in his first goal for the SeagullsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever