Jack Grealish (#10) of Manchester City applauds the fans after 1-0 win over Chelsea in the Premier League game at Samford Bridge in London, England, January 5, 2023. (Photo: CFP)

Jack Grealish of Manchester City admitted that the club's style of play is "so much more difficult" than he expected in an interview with Sky Sports on Thursday.

City edged Chelsea 1-0 at Samford Bridge on Thursday night after Grealish assisted Riyad Mahrez to score the game-winning goal in the 63rd minute. Both players came off the bench. The victory enabled City to cut their deficit behind the leader Arsenal to five points on the Premier League's standings table.

Back in August 2021, City paid Aston Villa 117.5 million euros (about $125.3 million) to land Grealish. However, he has scored only seven goals and seven assists in 59 games for City since then, not to mention that he often came off the bench. It's good for the club to have a player like him who is always ready to go to the field and contribute, but fans usually expect more from a winger whose transfer fee set a new record in franchise history.

"When I came here, I'll be honest, it was so much more difficult than I thought," Grealish told Sky Sports. "In my head I thought I was going to the team sitting top of the league and I was going to get so many goals and assists and obviously it isn't the case."

Riyad Mahrez (#26) of Manchester City shoots to score in the Premier League game against Chelsea at Samford Bridge in London, England, January 5, 2023. (Photo: CFP)

Fairly speaking, Grealish was not a productive scorer or orchestrator when he played a bigger role in Villa, where he had 32 goals and 43 assists in 213 appearances. City, under manager Pep Guardiola, don't encourage anyone to dribble too much and already have Kevin De Bruyne to shoulder the orchestrating duty. That's why Grealish often played as a substitute. His penetration can be a pace-changer for City.

There are other reasons behind Grealish's struggling performance. For example, teams play in very different ways against Villa and City. "A lot of teams tend to sit in against us and that wasn't the case at Villa," he said. "(Former Villa manager) Dean Smith would tell me to go and find the weak link in the defense, whether that was on the right, the middle or whether I wanted to hug the touchline – and at Villa, I always had an overlapping full-back."

"I came into City, having been at Villa my whole life, and I've never had to change. I've always been used to that. I didn't realize how hard it is to adapt to a different team and manager," Grealish added.

City will play Chelsea again in the FA Cup on Sunday.