Manchester City 1-0 Chelsea
Manchester City moved 13 points clear at the top of the Premier League on Saturdayas victory over Chelsea all but ended the Blues’ league title dreams.
A 72nd minute special from Kevin De Bruyne was the difference between the two teams in an entertaining tussle at the Etihad. De Bruyne’s fellow countryman Romelu Lukaku had a fine effort brilliantly saved by Ederson, but that was the closest Chelsea came on an afternoon in which the Sky Blues took another huge stride towards the title.
Yep; the victory means Pep Guardiola’s side now has one hand on the 2021/22 league trophy. Manchester City have won their last 12 consecutive league games and can anyone seriously believe the Sky Blues’ Premier League 2022 results are about to fall off a cliff? No me neither; but Liverpool fans and maybe even the most optimistic Chelsea fans will carry on hoping for a miracle.
Highlights of the game
In a first half of few chances the hosts passed the ball around slickly while Chelsea kept a solid shape with a clear plan to hit their opponents on the break, as they did in the 2021 Champions League final. But the visitors made little progress and the Sky Blues should really have been one up at the break. De Bruyne caught Mateo Kovacic in possession and slid the ball through to Jack Grealish but, as the 53,000 fans expected the net to bulge, the former Aston Villa striker chipped the ball tamely into Kepa’s hands.
Manchester City have such a deep squad that Guardiola could leave the best defender of the last two seasons, Ruben Dias, on the bench; but he may have regretted that when Lukaku managed to get free and curl a shot towards the corner but Ederson made a stunning save to keep the scores level. Hakim Ziyech blasted the rebound over and the chance was gone.
A draw wouldn’t have been a great result for the Blues, they really needed to close the ten point gap but a goal was always more likely at the other end. Kepa saved a De Bruyne free-kick midway through the second half, but there was nothing he could do on 70 minutes when the Belgian ace won the game. He took a pass from Joao Cancelo and turned N’Golo Kante inside out before curling a beauty inside the far post from 20 yards.
Classic De Bruyne!
Phil Foden had a great chance to double City’s lead but blazed over with the goal at his mercy and the Champions settled for one, which was perfectly good for their purpose.
Surely it would be the biggest collapses of all time for the Sky Blues to lose this now.
Key statistics
My SBOTOP colleague predicted a tight and low scoring game and how right he was as the league’s top two teams fought it out; but the Sky Blues had a clear advantage in all the most important stats. They had more possession at 56 per cent, more shots at 11 to four and more shots on target at six to one.
Despite his side not having a shot in the first half and only troubling Ederson once in 90 minutes, Chelsea head coach Thomas Tuchel thought his side deserved a point, saying: “The result is disappointing but this can happen when you play at City. I think we deserved a draw, we defended very well; there was one big mistake from us.” But he wouldn’t be drawn on whether the title race is over for the Blues: “It is not my question to answer. We will never give up but if City keeps on winning every game, nobody can catch them.”
No former Chelsea player has scored more goals against them in the Premier League than De Bruyne, who bagged his fifth in spectacular fashion on Saturday. Of course, the Belgian ace was sold by Chelsea to Wolfsburg in 2014 for a fee of £18m and how they must rue that day as he came back to haunt them again. A couple of years later the Blues sold Mo Salah to Roma for around £12m. They have plenty of cash down there at Stamford Bridge but there are two deals they got badly wrong!
What’s next?
While the latest Premier League 2022 betting odds have installed Manchester as red hot favourites Liverpool host Brentford tomorrow and the Reds can reduce the gap to 11 points, with a game in hand, if they can see off the Bees.
Next weekend the Sky Blues head to the south coast to face Southampton. The Saints were unbeaten in five (before their trip to Wolves on Saturday), beating Brentford 4-1 last week. Chelsea visit Brighton at the Amex Stadium next Tuesday. Graham Potter’s Seagulls are gong nicely and will meet the Blues on the back of a 1-1 draw with Crystal Palace.
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