Chelsea 0-1 Manchester City: Match Review
REUTERS/Eddie Keogh
Manchester City tamed the reigning English champions in their backyard in a dominating display.
Pep Guardiola saw his team utterly dominate the proceedings at Stamford Bridge in a crucial 1-0 win. City will be greatly helped with that result, as they set out to mount their title charge. Antonio Conte, on the other hand, will be disappointed after seeing his team fail to score at home for two consecutive games. Notably, Chelsea had also fired a blank against Arsenal in a 0-0 draw in their last Premier League game at home.
Manchester City had all the possession in the first half, and they set the tone of the whole match early. Yet, Chelsea had a couple of chances to create something, but they failed to grab those opportunities. In the 35th minute, the Blues were dealt a huge blow, as Alvaro Morata had to come off injured, and Willian was forced to replace him. With no striker on the pitch, Conte’s men looked directionless, as Manchester City strengthened their grip.
After coming close to scoring on a few occasions through Gabriel Jesus, David Silva and Raheem Sterling, City finally broke the deadlock in the 67th minute with a rocket of a goal from former Chelsea boy Kevin De Bruyne. The Belgian played a one-two with Jesus around the edge of the box, before firing an unstoppable left-footed shot into the top right corner.
Conte decided to bring Pedro and Michy Batshuayi on to take something out of the match, but Chelsea never managed to take off, as City grew their dominance even further. Towards the end of the match, Gabriel Jesus saw his volley cleared off the line, when Rudiger somehow managed to get into the way of a shot that looked destined for the back of the net.
Written by Shorya Panwar 
Has 20+ years of experience managing Schalke in Football Manager 2017. Believes wing-backs are the most complete footballers in the modern/evolved football. Writes weird stuff on his personal blog.