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Full time: Chelsea 0-1 Manchester City
City move to within five points of Arsenal after a hard-fought victory at Stamford Bridge. The first half was cagey and tactical, but City upped the tempo in the second half and two of their substitutes, Jack Grealish and Riyad Mahrez, combined for the winning goal.
Chelsea’s poor run continues, though there are mitigating circumstances. Raheem Sterling and Christian Pulisic both went off injured, and Chelsea ended the game with three teenagers on the field. Two of them, Carney Chukwuemeka and Lewis Hall, almost combined for an injury-time equaliser.
90+4 min Koulibaly is booked for fouling Mahrez, who was leading a City break. Time’s up for Chelsea.
90+1 min: Chance for Hall! That would have been a huge moment for Chelsea – and Arsenal. The impressive Chukwuemeka ran half the length of the field before easing the ball outside to Hall on the left side of the area. His first touch was slightly errant, which made the angle really tight, and he sprayed a shot wide of the near post.
90 min Four added minutes.
89 min Grealish is cynically fouled by Kovacic, who is booked.
89 min Zakaria, who has quietly had a decent game, beats two players in midfield to start a Chelsea move. Hall dances away from Phillips and Lewis and drives a low cross that deflects dangerously across the area before being cleared by Grealish. Hall looks a good player, really confident and purposeful even against a team as intimidating as City.
87 min “Enzo Fernandez is throwing a tantrum so he can join THIS?” sniffs Sean Orlowicz.
Heh. Don’t forget the injury list. This run of form is about as representative of Chelsea as Pablo Honey is of Radiohead.
86 min: City substitution Rodri, who has cramp, is replaced by Kalvin Phillips. “Looks pretty trim there…” says Jamie Carragher. Azpilicueta runs over to hasten Rodri’s departure.
85 min Chelsea have been much better in the last 20 minutes. Part of that is human nature, City easing off after going 1-0 up, but I also wonder whether Graham Potter might have had his fill of certain older players, Aubameyang in particular.
83 min Gallagher is basically playing as a centre-forward, and his approach so far brings to mind Dave Bassett’s pre-match instructions to Billy Whitehurst back in the day: “Go and cause some bo11ocks, Billy.”
82 min Chelsea work the ball nicely from right to left, only for Kovacic to inexplicably overhit a pass to the unmarked Hall.
80 min “Pep torching the hopes and dreams of fantasy football managers across the land,” says Andy Bollen. “Meanwhile Cancelo, Walker and Foden all fighting over the magic sponge to valet his motor.”
Ederson, De Bruyne and Beast are the only City players worth touching in Fantasy Premier League, a lesson I still haven’t learned. Kyle Walker got one point tonight, and I had Mitoma on the bench an’ all.
79 min Another dangerous low cross, this time from De Bruyne, is well defended by Thiago at the near post. Gundogan was waiting behind him to score.
78 min Gallagher has energised Chelsea with his intense pressing, but he goes a bit too far when he deliberately leaves one on Stones. Paul Tierney gives him a warning.
77 min If it stays like this City will be five points behind Arsenal with 21 matches remaining, two of them head-to-heads.
74 min Kovacic collects a loose ball 30 yards from goal and thrikes it over the bar. Chelsea have been pretty good since the young players came on.
74 min Havertz’s looping header is comfortably saved by Ederson, though he was offside anyway.
73 min City work the ball nicely down the right, and De Bruyne’s low cross is just too quick for Haaland, stretching in front of an open goal. They’ve been fantastic in the second half.
72 min The more you see City’s goal, the more it looks like Kepa should have stopped it. He might have pushed the ball out to an onrushing forward, Beast maybe, but that’s better than letting it roll behind you when somebody has an open goal.
71 min This is a decent spell of possession for Chelsea, probably their best of the second half.
68 min: Triple substitution for Chelsea Conor Gallagher, Omari Hutchinson and Lewis Hall replace Aubameyang, who only came as sub in the first half, Ziyech and Cucurella.
66 min “Pep did ‘play the bucket’!” says Gary Naylor, taking his own idea and running with it.
65 min It was a brilliant ball from Grealish, into a perfect area, but on the replay it looked like Kepa had a decent chance to push it away had he dived full stretch. Jamie Carragher on Sky Sports has also been very criticial of Cucurella for allowing Mahrez to run off him.
The two substitutes who came on three minutes ago have combined to give City the lead. De Bruyne charged forward from midfield and slid a simple pass to Grealish on the left side of the area. Grealish is a tactile footballer but this time he slid a devastating first-time cross with his left foot. Kepa decided not to dive towards it, a little weirdly, and Mahrez got the wrong side of Cucurella to tap into an empty net.
GOAL! Chelsea 0-1 Pep Guardiola (Mahrez 63)
City take the lead with a beautiful goal!
62 min Grealish plays a nice little pass to the overlapping De Bruyne, who flicks a cross with the outside of the boot towards Haaland. Koulibaly gets in front to head clear.
61 min Ziyech flips a long pass from the edge of his own penalty area towards Havertz, who threatens to get the wrong side of the last man Akanji. Ederson comes miles out of his goal, doesn’t get the ball and is very relieved to see Akanji get to it before Havertz.
60 min: Double substitution for City New wide forwards please: Jack Grealish and Riyad Mahrez are on for Foden and Bernardo.
59 min: Chance for City! Bernardo Silva beats Cucurella thrillingly on the right, not once but twice before pushing the ball back to De Bruyne on the edge of the area. He takes a touch and smashes a shot wide of the near post.
58 min I’ve been calling Foden and Bernardo Silva wing-backs but they’re not really, they’re just wingers. Bernardo receives a good ball from De Bruyne just inside the area and tries to make room for a shot. Koulibaly holds him up and then Kovacic pokes the ball away.
55 min: Chance for Thiago! Chelsea give their defenders a breather with a decent counter-attack that ends when Ziyech’s cross is put behind by Akanji. The corner isn’t properly cleared, with Chukwuemeka swinging a deep cross from the left. The unmarked Havertz inexplicably miscontrols the ball, but it falls perfectly for Thiago to ping a drive that hits Rodri and deflects just wide of the far post.
53 min “My dog is sat next to me, snoring,” says Joe Pearson. “Given the excitement index of this match, I might be inclined to join him.”
A goal is coming, Frank says.
52 min: Good save by Kepa! This is brilliant from City. They win the ball in the final third again, and De Bruyne rifles a low left-footed drive that is smartly saved, low to his left, by Kepa.
51 min: Ake hits the post! De Bruyne whips the free-kick towards the near post and the well positioned Azpilicueta puts it behind for the corner. City take it short, with De Bruyne floating an inswinging cross beyond the far post. The backpedalling Ake gets in front of his teammate Rodri – who might have been in a better position – and thumps a header off the outside of the near post from a tight angle.
50 min All of a sudden City are smothering Chelsea, who can’t get out. Azpilicueta is penalised with pulling Foden back on the left wing, and City have a free-kick in a decent position.
50 min Rico Lewis has started well, carrying the ball confidently through midfield on a couple of occasions.
49 min “What I’m struck by since everyone returned from the World Cup break is that City played its best game (only really good game?) the first time out on Dec. 22 vs. Liverpool in the Carabao Cup, but otherwise it almost seems like they can’t be bothered, when you’d expect their performance to improve as they get more games under their belts,” says Bob Best. “The Everton match was especially stunning. Brighton mauled them at Goodison Park Tuesday, after City (at home) played Everton like it was a meaningless friendly, where saving energy and avoiding injuries seemed to be the objectives.
“Any insights? It’s one thing to play well and not win all the time. It’s another to just not play well in the first place, when you have not only have all the tools but have more tools than you need, as evidenced by the ongoing discussions over who should be playing.”
I think it’s too early to draw conclusions, and I’m not only saying that because I didn’t see City’s games against Everton or Leeds. There was always going to be a bit of weirdness after a mid-season World Cup, and City have had spells like this before – remember the 2020-21 season, when Gary Neville among others said they looked “bored” after a really sluggish start. Then they won 20 games in a row in all competitions.
48 min A dodgy lay-off from Aubameyang is pinched by Haaland, who moves past Koulibaly and drags a shot wide from 20 yards. City’s intensity has been better since the break.
46 min City begin the second half. In fact they are playing the same 3-2-4-1 system, with Rico Lewis in central midfield and Bernardo Silva as the new right wing-back. What are you doing to me, Pep.
City are making a double substitution at half-time. Manuel Akanji and Rico Lewis for Joao Cancelo and Kyle Walker. That surely means a switch to 4-1-2-3.
“A match like this, clever but sterile play on both sides, needs the managers to be allowed a ten minute ‘Bielsa Mode’ period when all ten outfield players must sprint forward the moment one of them gets the ball,” says Gary Naylor. “Its start could be signalled by the fourth official holding up a bucket in the club colours. Any goals conceded in that period don’t count because, well, neutrals, Leeds fans and even the man himself, didn’t really care about that end of the pitch. Wouldn’t half liven this up.”
Half-time reading
He looks a cracking player, this chap.
Half time: Chelsea 0-0 Man City
That was a surprisingly cagey first half. City set up in an unusual 3-2-4-1 formation and struggled to find their usual attacking rhythm. Chelsea were a bit better, despite losing Raheem Sterling and Christian Pulisic to injury, and the substitute Carney Chukwuemeka hit the post on the stroke of half-time.
45+1 min “For all of Pep’s desire to be the Ornette Coleman of tactics, he’s deployed Haaland very conventionally,” says Kári Tulinius. “While the Norwegian’s goal tally suggests this is the smart choice, this makes the City offense is more predictable. You don’t often see any more five or six players all running at different angles, each a potential threat. City’s attacking rhythm’s a lot simpler than it used to be.”
There were umpteen factors, but I always found it interesting that Man Utd won the title only once in five years when Ruud van Nistelrooy was at the club, even though he scored goals in industrial quantities.
45+1 min Two minutes of added time.
45 min Cancelo chops past Cucurella in the area and hammers a cross shot that is really well blocked by Koulibaly. It’s livening up, just in time for half-time.
44 min: Chukwuemeka hits the post! Havertz curves a crossfield pass to Chukwuemeka in the inside-left channel. He cuts inside Walker and sweeps a low shot from the edge of the area that takes a slight deflection and hits the inside of the near post. Stones calmly launches a City break that ends with De Bruyne shooting straight at Kepa from 20 yards.
42 min Ziyech – a confident boy at the best of times, never mind after being one of the stars of the World Cup – cuts inside and has a pop from the right edge of the area. It’s well struck but straight at Ederson.
41 min Chelsea hvve had a few promising breaks, only to let themselves down with the final pass. There was another a moment ago, with Chukwuemeka crossing behind Aubameyang after a good move that also involved Havertz.
39 min “City won’t win three titles in a row exactly because Pep rotates too frequently and changes formation too often,” says Jeff Sachs.
To be fair, that hasn’t cost them a Premier League yet. A Champions League or two, maybe, but not a Premier League. Yet. They need to get their act together soon though, because they have a tricky run coming up: Spurs twice, Man Utd away and Arsenal away in the next six weeks.
38 min: Chance for Haaland! Out of nothing, City cut Chelsea open. Rodri fires a pass into Gundogan, 40 yards from goal. He turns and angles a pass to Haaland, pulling away from Koulibaly in the inside-right channel. Haaland controls the ball beautifully on the run but then pokes an early left-footed shot over the bar from the edge of the area.
36 min Whether because of Pep’s tinkering or for some other reason, City aren’t at the races.
34 min “The Stockport Messi has taken a page out of the book of the real artifact by playing much better in a Guardiola team boasting many of the world’s greatest midfielders than for a national team that has none of those,” says Phil Podolsky, who surely isn’t going to go there. My word, he is going to go there. “But, silly as it may sound, I sort of get the Messi analogy. Something about the way Foden can produce thunderbolts with very little backlift, switch his weight, things of that nature. Not the same calibre of generational talent, clearly, but just you wait. He’ll be a regular fixture in the Ballon d’Or top three in a couple of years, you’ve heard it here first.”
One thing that will be interesting is whether he ends up as a left-sided No8, stays as a wide forward or flits between the two. He’d be really dangerous dribbling from deep, a bit like Jack Wilshere, but that would also compromise his goal threat.
33 min That was City’s first shot of the game.
33 min Gundogan collects a loose ball 20 yards from goal, opens his body and shapes a curler towards the far corner. It’s well off target.
32 min Cancelo runs Cucurella and drives a flat cross that is inadvertently looped towards his own goal by Koulibaly. Happily for Chelsea, it drops into Kepa’s loving embrace.
31 min It’s not a great game this, I won’t like to you.
28 min Rodri throws Ziyech to the ground on the Chelsea right, a silly foul to give away. Ziyech’s dangerous inswinging free-kick is headed away at the near post by the backpedalling Haaland.
27 min Havertz is causing City problems when he drops into the hole. In fact, at the moment Chelsea are the more dangerous team and it’s probably fair to ask while Pep felt the need to abandon his usual 4-1-2-3 against a team who have been struggling all season, and who City usually beat on this ground. What have I told you about thinking, Pep.
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