Erling Haaland breaks xG record during Man City draw against Chelsea

Manchester City forward Erling Haaland recorded an unwanted xG record on what was an unusually wasteful evening for the often-clinical Norwegian.

Pep Guardiola's side dropped two points in the Premier League title race after being held to a 1-1 draw against a resilient Chelsea side.

Chelsea looked dangerous on the break and, after missing a handful of first-half chances, Raheem Sterling opened the scoring against his former club with a neat finish.

As they often do, City enjoyed the lion's share of possession but they struggled to break down a solid Chelsea backline, and when they did have chances, their attacking players failed to capitalise.

In fact, Erling Haaland, who has scored 16 goals in the league this season, broke the record for the highest xG [expected goals] in a Premier League game this season without scoring [1.71].

The 23-year-old recorded nine shots in total, including three big chances.

And it turns out the last person to record an unfortunate xG close to Haaland's this season was Liverpool forward Darwin Nunez, who accumulated a 1.61 expected goals during his 64 minutes against Newcastle on January 1.

It was an evening to forget for Haaland but City boss Pep Guardiola backed his number nine to bounce back.

"It's good to have nine shots and next time he's going to score," he said. "I was a football player for 11 years and scored 11 goals. What stats! One goal a season. I'm not a proper man to give advice to strikers.

"We create the chances, he had the chances and next time he's going to score. I don't blame him. It's football, it's human beings."

Daniel Sturridge, who was working as a pundit for Sky Sports on Saturday, also offered a comment on Haaland's lacklustre performance.

He said: "Of course, he's going to analyse his game when he goes home and say 'what could I have done better?'

"A player at his level, who goes onto the pitch with an expectation of scoring goals, he's going to be going home feeling down about himself, that he could have been the person who won the game for his team today.

"But it's the life of a striker. You have these type of days where nothing goes right for you."

Sturridge added: "You know your job is to provide the goals. Haaland has that weight on his shoulders. Although the goals are spread around he knows what he was brought here for and we know what his talent level is and his personal expectations are."