Jed ends away-day blues for Rowett

made under Frank Lampard this term. The hosts conjured the first chance after three minutes, Fernandinho finding Sergio Aguero, who in turn funnelled the ball through to De Bruyne, whose shot on the turn went just wide of Kepa Arrizabalaga’s right-hand post.

Five minutes later and it was Chelsea’s turn. An under-hit pass from Mahrez under pressure from Emerson was intercepted by Tammy Abraham who sprayed the ball out wide to Willian. The Brazil midfielder dragged his shot wide of the target.

But Chelsea took a deserved lead in the 21st minute, their early endeavour and enterprise warranting the goal.

Mateo Kovacic picked out N’Golo Kante’s diagonal run, with Benjamin Mendy left as the only City defender to pursue him.

But Kante had a head start on Mendy and with Ederson racing off his line the Chelsea midfielder applied a vital first touch to the ball sending it trundling over the line to give Lampard’s side a deserved lead.

The champions levelled just eight minutes later, De Bruyne shifting the ball back on to his left foot before unleashing a shot that Kepa looked to have covered, until a deflection off Kurt Zouma sent it beyond him.

That galvanised the hosts and they went ahead eight minutes later with the decisive goal from Mahrez, who had offered little up until that point.

Picking the ball up from Rodri, Mahrez cut inside and skipped between Emerson and Kovacic before steering an assured finish into the far corner beyond the reach of Kepa.

Aguero should have made it 3-1 two minutes before the break when Kepa sent the ball straight to the feet of the City forward with a sloppy kick.

But City’s all-time leading scorer could only hit the bar with his effort, squandering the chance to put some daylight between themselves and the visitors. Fernandinho made a vital block to divert a goal-bound effort from Kante, seven minutes after the restart, moments after Guardiola had replaced Rodri with Ilkay Gundogan, a switch that did not go down well with the Spaniard, who shook his head in dismay as he walked off.

Kepa produced a fine reflex save in the 65th minute to deny Mahrez a second strike as City stepped up a gear in search of the goal that would ultimately kill the game.

Aguero was forced off late on through injury, while Raheem Sterling had a goal chalked off for offside in added time – the only blots on an otherwise positive evening for City.

JED WALLACE ended Millwall’s away-day blues with a red-hot free-kick that cooled Swansea’s promotion ambitions.

The midfielder curled a delicious effort past Swans keeper Freddie Woodman just past the hour to give the Lions their first away win of the season.

It was totally deserved as Millwall continue to show improvement under new boss Gary Rowett, who has delivered three wins out of four in his short time in charge.

For Swansea, though, this was more slippage at the Liberty Stadium.

Steve Cooper’s side are unbeaten on the road but just four points from a possible 18 at home tells its own story.

A delighted Rowett said: “It was a nice way to end the run of games without an away win.

“The players were conscious of it and needed to do something about it. We created the best chances of the match and I thought we were comfortable.”

After Millwall had created the better opportunities, the crucial moment arrived when Swansea defender Mike van der Hoorn pulled down Wallace.

Wallace dusted himself down and curved his free-kick around the wall and into the far corner.

Swansea boss Cooper said: “We fell short.

“We always look at ourselves and we know we were not at the level today in any area of the pitch. I don’t think it’s about momentum or any added pressure. We just did not play well.”