Aguero keeps scoring in threes
City hands Chelsea worst loss since 1991, a year before Premier League
Sergio Aguero is scoring for fun, and even referee Mike Dean got in on the jokes. Only Chelsea had nothing to smile about after a 6-0 humiliation at Manchester City. Aguero was owed another match ball after scoring a hat trick for a second successive Sunday in the Premier League. Not that Dean was going to make it easy for Aguero to collect the ball. Certainly not as easy as Chelsea allowed the Argentine tone ta competition-equalling 11 th treble.
Spotting Aguero on the field after the final whistle, Dean tucked the bright yellow ball up the back of his black referee’s jersey. Feigning ignorance about the location of the ball, Dean shrugged his shoulders before retrieving it from under his top for a beaming Aguero.
Aguero scored his first goal in the 13th minute, completing a one-two with Oleksandr Zinchenko outside the area by unleashing a powerful shot that flew in from 25 metres.
“Out of nothing, he can put the ball in the top corner,” said Raheem Sterling, who scored the opening and closing goals for City. “Players like this, you have got to cherish.”
This was a day of misery for Chelsea, the west London club’s heaviest loss in 28 years, but one for both City and Dean to flaunt their flamboyance.
When it came to awarding the penalty that allowed Aguero to complete his hat trick — after spotting Cesar Azpilicueta’s foul on Sterling — Dean pointed exuberantly at the spot while jumping dramatically to end up in a pose with his legs outstretched in a squat.
Chelsea had nothing to enjoy in this latest embarrassment on the road.
As defending champion City reclaimed top spot from Liverpool on goal difference, Chelsea sunk to sixth place, coming on the back of a 2-0 loss at Arsenal and 4-0 collapse at Bournemouth in away games.
With Maurizio Sarri hired after Antonio Conte failed to make the top four last season, the prospect of another season out of the Champions League is likely to imperil the job prospects of another Chelsea manager.
“I don’t know, you have to ask the club,” Sarri said. “I am worried about my team, I am worried about the performance. … I didn’t see my football (against City).”
Chelsea had not lost by six goals or more since April 1991 — a year before the inception of the Premier League — when Nottingham Forest beat the Blues 7-0. Based on this lopsided encounter, Sarri might not collect early silverware, either. City stands between Chelsea and the League Cup in the final in two weeks at Wembley Stadium.
English football’s national stadium remains the temporary home of Tottenham, where the north London club beat Leicester 3-1 in Sunday’s other game.