THE VERDICT: CHELSEA 2 CITY 0
TWO things that have been disputed this season were proved irrefutably on Saturday: City are only human and the Premier League has a title race –and an exciting one at that.
Liverpool’s thumping victory over Bournemouth left Pep Guardiola’s men in second place as they kicked off at Stamford Bridge before Chelsea rode the waves of attacks from the visitors and pounced when it mattered to snatch a 2-0 win.
Just like at Watford in midweek, City will feel they should have been clear before conceding – N’Golo Kante’s fierce strike into the roof of the net was seen as a smash-and-grab from the gleeful West Londoners after being pinned back in their own half for most of the opening 45 minutes.
But no amount of passing statistics or average positions consoled Guardiola when he looked up at the scoreboard and contemplated his team talk.
How would City, behind only once in the Premier League this season, react to being displaced from their usual heights in both a match and the table? Not well enough to prevent their first domestic defeat of the campaign. It took Guardiola just five minutes after the interval to make a change. If there was logic in the gamble to leave Gabriel Jesus out of the starting line-up given his shortage of confidence in front of goal, it just didn’t quite work with Raheem Sterling or Riyad Mahrez taking up that central position. Sterling wasted a good opportunity at 0-0 when well-placed in the box and Leroy Sane was subbed for Jesus in the second half to allow the England international to take up a more familiar position on the wing. Kyle Walker was an unlikely threat as he tested Kepa from a free-kick but for whatever reason – and Chelsea deserve credit for their second-half performance – it just didn’t click, even when Ilkay Gundogan provided fresh legs for the injured David Silva. A team used to scoring three goals a game could only muster two on target in the final half-hour as they failed to turn possession into meaningful opportunities, and David Luiz punished them further when heading home from a corner. Simon Bajkowski Kante (45), David Luiz (78) None 39% 61% 18 13 13 1 40, 571 Jorginho, Pedro None Michael Oliver
Anyone hoping this could be a blueprint to crack the champions more regularly will be disappointed – there isn’t another team that play as Chelsea do, and all of the top five have to travel to the Etihad in the second half of the season having collectively taken just five points out of a possible 12 from Pep’s men.
But City are beatable, and Liverpool know if they outperform their rivals in the next 22 games then the title is theirs.
The team that have been chased forlornly for a year-and-a-half now have someone in front of them and what happens next promises to be anything but boring.