Jamie Carragher likens Chelsea defender to John Terry as Thiago Silva concern addressed after Man City draw

Jamie Carragher likened Axel Disasi to John Terry following the defender's Man of the Match performance at Manchester City on Saturday.

Disasi was the standout player as Chelsea earned a hard-fought point with a 1-1 draw at the Etihad, with Rodri cancelling out Raheem Sterling's effort late in the second-half. Sterling opened the scoring shortly before half-time and Mauricio Pochettino's side defended resolutely right up until the end.

Central to that defensive effort was Disasi, who seemed to be in the way of every shot and marshalled the dangerous Erling Haaland throughout. The 25-year-old was colossal at the heart of Chelsea's back-line and Carragher likened him to club legend Terry after full-time.

“I can't remember a better defensive performance this season, certainly from a central defender,” Carragher said of Disasi. “You're coming away to Manchester City, playing against the best striker in the world, he was brilliant. He was Man of the Match, definitely the best player on the pitch. He was just throwing himself in front of everything.

“We’ve moved on a little from my time when that was the type of performance you’d see from centre-backs 15 or 20 years ago. Now we see them building from the back and getting on the ball so that was almost a bit of a throwback really. It was backs against the wall throwing yourself in front of things, every time the ball comes in you're like a magnet. Talking about Chelsea, that was a John Terry performance and I can't give any higher praise than that.”

Chelsea looked to have suffered a major blow when Pochettino confirmed he would not have Thiago Silva available for the trip to City. Silva has played the most Premier League minutes of anyone at the club this season but in his absence, Disasi and Levi Colwill stepped up commendably.

“A couple of big away games - Aston Villa in the cup and here today - Thiago Silva hasn't been involved,” Carragher added. “He's been brilliant for Chelsea since he's come in but I think with his age, and his contract being up at the end of the season, then you see those two playing there together, I think it makes it very difficult for Thiago Silva to get back into the team between now and the end of the season. 

“I think Chelsea, they've got the cup final, but they've got to start building something for the future, there's not an awful lot to play for after the cup final. After looking at those two and maybe another young centre-back, I think the days of Thiago Silva playing for Chelsea have got to come to an end.”