Manchester City: Citizens Lose Cool in 3-1 Defeat vs. Chelsea
By Larry Henry
In a highly anticipated Barclays Premier League top-three clash at the Etihad, Manchester City fell 3-1 to league-leaders Chelsea.
Pep Guardiola‘s side were looking to win their third consecutive league fixture, while Antonio Conte‘s Chelsea were on a seven game winning streak in the league. Chelsea defeated Tottenham 2-1 at Stamford Bridge a week ago, while a brace from Sergio Aguero carried Manchester City to a 2-1 road win at Burnley.
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Guardiola used a 3-4-3 formation to counter Chelsea’s 3-4-3 of their own. Sergio Aguero led the City attack with
,
,
, and
also featuring.
and
rounded out the midfield, while
,
, and
started in defense.
resumed his role in the City net.
Diego Costa, Eden Hazard, and Pedro all started for Chelsea, while N’Golo Kante and Cesc Fabregas started in deeper midfield roles.
Throughout the first half, both teams tested each other out but it began as a chess-match. Aguero’s 21st minute effort was palmed away by Thibaut Courtois. City pressured and looked to own more of the opening half’s possession, while the breakthrough came on the verge of halftime.
A cross from Jesus Navas was deflected in off of Chelsea defender Gary Cahill which put Manchester City in-front 1-0 at halftime.
Kevin De Bruyne almost made it 2-0 but failed to keep his wide-open shot down as the ball went off the crossbar. Three minutes later, Chelsea made Manchester City pay for their missed opportunity as Diego Costa slotted home from inside the box. The counter-attack from Chelsea allowed Costa to take Otamendi one-on-one which the Spaniard won.
The Chelsea counter-attack struck again ten minutes later as substitute Willian slotted home from Costa’s through-ball. A poor effort by Bravo allowed Willian to beat the goalkeeper to his far-post from his right-foot.
Hazard stamped the score at 3-1 in the 90th minute when he calmly scored from Marcos Alonso‘s assist. Things got ugly in the final minutes when both Aguero and Fernandinho were given red cards for violent conduct.
Aguero earned his for a rash challenge on David Luiz, while Fernandinho was seen gripping-up Fabregas after Aguero’s card was given. The shoving match between the two ended with Fabregas pushed over a sideline barrier.
At the final whistle, nine-men Manchester City fell 3-1 to Chelsea. City held 61% of the possession to Chelsea’s 39%, but could not capitalize on missed opportunities. Defensive miscues also hurt City who were caught-out on the counter frequently. Claudio Bravo made one save, while Courtois made four.
Frustration by Aguero and Fernandinho boiled over at the end, and both will be missing some future matches due to upcoming suspensions. Nicolas Otamendi also will be missing the next match at Leicester due to yellow-card accumulation.
In his post-match interview with Sky Sports, Pep Guardiola praised his side’s play build-up play but agreed their final play wasn’t good enough. “Congratulations to Chelsea – they won. We played really good, had a lot of control and created chances – but the ball in the box was not strong enough. Chelsea’s approach was really different but that is part of the game. You don’t expect Chelsea to create 25 chances – they created three and scored three.”
Next: Fan favourite Hart looking to leave City permanently
Now sitting four points behind their winning opponents, Manchester City have to rest and regroup. They host
Celtic
on Tuesday in their final group-stage match of the
. Following that, they travel to reigning-champs
Leicester
for a EPL match a week from today.