Victory over awful Chelsea
Again, the most ever in a Premier League game. Usually such stats are compiled against relegation fodder. Not Champions League teams.
The one surprise was that City only had 71.1 per cent possession. It felt far more than that while, for Chelsea, the sight of Christensen, Antonio Rudiger or Cesar Azpilicueta hoofing the ball aimlessly up the pitch as they tried to relieve the pressure was dispiriting.
Sure they missed N’golo Kante, who pulled out through illness, despite travelling to the stadium, but that only goes so far, while it should be pointed out that Conte sanctioned the purchases of both Alvaro Morata and Olivier Giroud, who only came on late into this game. The fact is, Conte was more concerned about not being thumped than trying to win and that is an indictment in itself. It is becoming a common theme in this league, when teams face City, but that is no excuse. Chelsea are the champions. They should be going out on their shields; not like this.
So it was little more than a glorified game of attack versus defence which, once City scored, had no drama attached to it. The pace even dropped to pedestrian midway through the second half and, although Guardiola celebrated exuberantly at the end that said it all about how close they are to lifting the crown than beating Chelsea. They should have been out of sight before, barely 30 seconds into the second half, Gundogan played the ball forward and Christensen made a hash of clearing it from inside his own penalty area, striking it against Azpilicueta, before it ran to Sergio Aguero.
The striker quickly slid a pass to the overlapping David Silva, who sent in a low skimming cross to beyond the far post. Marcos Alonso was caught out as Bernardo Silva arrived and the Portuguese shot – shinned it – back across Thibaut Courtois and into the net. Bernardo had spurned first-half chances, while Azipilicueta had denied Leroy Sane as he deftly cushioned a deep free-kick by Kevin De Bruyne and then struck a powerful shot beyond Courtois, only for the defender to block on the goal-line.
Maybe Chelsea had one chance. Soon after City scored they countered with the ball played out to Victor Moses, but as Oleksandr Zinchenko attempted to cover, Moses sliced his shot high and wide.
And that, pretty much, was it. Chelsea, for the first time since Opta started compiling such stats in 2004, did not have a single shot on target. They had two, in total, both off target. At the same time City did not spurn a host of chances. But at least they played like champions.