Manchester City returned to their best at Stamford Bridge as they eased past Chelsea in a 3-1 victory to send them closer to the right end of the table.
The hosts managed to get the ball to the final third on multiple occasions in the opening few minutes but did not manage to test the keeper at all. City, on the other hand, kept the ball extremely well and played short passes between each other to move the ball. It was a typical display of Pep’s philosophy, to keep the ball, and pass the ball.
The Cityzens struck almost out of nowhere as a Kevin de Bruyne pass managed to find Ilkay Gundogan on the edge of the penalty area, who smashed the ball past Edouard Mendy. They followed it up shortly after with another goal coming from the right flank, this time, from a clean finish by Phil Foden to beat Mendy at his near post.
The Blues were then caught out by Kevin de Bruyne on the counter following a free kick on the other end of the pitch to end the first half.
The second half saw City ease up on the pressure, but they could have easily gotten five past the hosts had they kept on going. Chelsea barely managed to come up with anything productive in all their time on the ball, with Callum Hudson-Odoi finding the back of the net in stoppage time, but it was too little, too late.
Manchester City have now conceded a goal after 13 hours in the league, while Chelsea are yet to secure a win against any team in the top half of the table. Chelsea were often caught sleeping in defense, while also looking tired owing to their stacked fixture schedule.
Having had their match against Everton postponed, Manchester City had a clear advantage heading into the game in terms of team freshness and it was the deciding factor in tonight’s game.
The defeat at home will only call for more pressure on Frank Lampard’s shoulders, who now desperately needs a good result to turn things around.
