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Chelsea 0-1 Manchester City: Match report, player ratings, fan reaction and more


Match report

Champions Manchester City ultimately managed to get the job done on Thursday night, edging past Chelsea at Stamford Bridge to close the gap on leaders Arsenal at the summit of the Premier League.

The Sky Blues, of course, made the trip to west London a short time ago.

After the aforementioned Arsenal dropped a pair of points in a meeting with high-flying Newcastle United earlier in the week, Pep Guardiola and co. were aware that a 2nd victory on the spin would see them close the gap to just five points.

And, when all was said and done, emerge triumphant is precisely what City went on to do, plunging Chelsea into further crisis in the process.

The first-half saw the evening’s hosts, for the most part, hold their own, even coming closest to opening the scoring upon substitute Carney Chukwuemeka rattling the woodwork from the edge of the area.

After Nathan Ake too nodded onto the frame of the goal on the other side of the interval, though, the game’s telling moment was finally forthcoming just beyond the hour mark.

This came upon two Man City substitutes combining to devastating effect.

After being slipped in down the left flank, Jack Grealish rolled perfect delivery across the face of goal, laying on Riyad Mahrez to slot home from close range:

Chelsea, to their credit, did push hard for a late equaliser, and were presented with a golden opportunity as proceedings rolled into injury time.

Youngster Lewis Hall’s ensuing effort, though, soared clear of the crossbar, ensuring that all three points headed back to Manchester.

Player ratings

Chelsea

Kepa Arrizabalaga - 5

Cesar Azpilicueta - 5.5

Thiago Silva - 6.5

Kalidou Koulibaly - 5.5

Marc Cucurella - 5

Mateo Kovacic - 6.5

Denis Zakaria - 7

Raheem Sterling - N/A

Hakim Ziyech - 5.5

Christian Pulisic - N/A

Kai Havertz - 5.5

Substitutes: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang - 4.5, Carney Chukwuemeka - 6, Omari Hutchinson - 5, Lewis Hall - 6.5, Conor Gallagher - 5.5

Manchester City

Ederson - 6.5

Kyle Walker - 5

John Stones - 7.5

Nathan Ake - 6.5

Joao Cancelo - 5.5

Rodri - 7

Ilkay Gundogan - 6

Bernardo Silva - 7

Kevin De Bruyne - 6.5

Phil Foden - 5

Erling Haaland - 5.5

Substitutes: Manuel Akanji - 6.5, Rico Lewis - 7.5, Riyad Mahrez - 7, Jack Grealish - 7.5, Kalvin Phillips - N/A

Stat roundup

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Conor Laird

Conor Laird

Die-hard Juventus fan with a love for all things Italian, and a real soft spot for Arsenal cult heroes. Emmanuel Eboue, Nicklas Bendtner, Philippe Senderos... Give them all statues outside the Emirates.


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