Magic Mahrez
City forward’s stunning finish wins Etihad thriller
With Liverpool winning again, and Leicester recording a fifth successive Premier League victory to retain their grip on second spot, there was simply no margin for error here for Manchester City against an upwardly mobile Chelsea side who started the day a point and a place above them.
The champions’ impressive reaction, then, to falling behind in a game they simply had to win should reaffirm that this is not a team who will surrender their title lightly.
Whether City can claw back a nine point gap to the Premier League leaders is another matter, and with Sergio Aguero adding to their injury problems when he left the field 13 minutes from time with a muscular problem that will be assessed today, Pep Guardiola’s squad is being stretched like never before. Yet there was much to admire about the way they recovered from an early setback to lead and slowly take the sting out of the game, despite losing Rodri and then David Silva to cramp and fatigue in the second half and eventually Aguero, too. Guardiola said he expects the Argentina striker to be out for “some days during the toughest part of our season”.
Chelsea gave as good as they got in a display that further illustrated the strides this young side are taking under Frank Lampard. Never before in Guardiola’s 381 top-flight games as a manager with Barcelona, Bayern Munich and now City had one of his teams enjoyed less possession and it had the Catalan waxing lyrical about Lampard’s “courage to play”.
But the statistic that mattered most was the three points and City never really relinquished control once Kevin De Bruyne and a moment of inspiration from Riyad Mahrez had cancelled out N’Golo Kante’s opener. “There is always one thing in your lifetime that hasn’t happened,” a smiling Guardiola said in response to the 53-47 possession count in Chelsea’s favour.
“So, OK, I have another record. I won one game without possession. They are incredible team with Kante, Kovacic, Jorginho, so it can happen.” Would Guardiola have cut quite such a relaxed figure had Chelsea substitute Mason Mount scored with a free-kick he sent a fraction wide in the 90th minute before Raheem Sterling had what seemed a perfectly legitimate goal chalked out for offside as he latched on to Mahrez’s knock on?
Sterling’s backside was level with Kurt Zouma’s armpit, if you must know, and one can only imagine City’s reaction had that decision proved more costly.
This was, first and foremost, an absorbing game of football. Chelsea had conceded four goals inside 25 minutes en route to a
6-0 humiliation on their last visit to the
Etihad but there were no inhibitions on this occasion and the biggest frustration for Lampard was that his team entered the interval behind after they had looked the more purposeful, dynamic side. They had more than enough chances to add to Kante’s goal but City got some good fortune for their equaliser and were greatly improved thereafter, Mahrez’s brilliance nudging them in front before Kepa Arrizabalaga very nearly undid all of Chelsea’s good work. Shanking an intended pass straight to Aguero hovering around the D, the Chelsea goalkeeper was a relieved man when the City striker’s shot cannoned back off the crossbar. Chelsea had been picked off in midfield at the
Etihad in February, no one more so than Jorginho, who imploded under persistent harassment. But the Italy midfielder was a different player here and, working harmoniously in tandem with Mateo Kovacic and Kante, they asked City plenty of questions. It was the trio that combined for the first goal. Kovacic exchanged a quick one-two with Jorginho and then, spotting that Fernandinho had got sucked too high up the pitch in the Brazilian’s only blemish all afternoon, he floated a gorgeous pass over the City player’s head into the path of the onrushing Kante. His first touch was excellent and, holding off Benjamin Mendy, he slotted a cool finish past the advancing Ederson. Chelsea had chances through Willian, Fikayo Tomori and Tammy Abraham, but City stepped up markedly once De Bruyne had levelled. City’s first originated from an underhit pass from Jorginho that was intercepted by Fernandinho. De Bruyne picked up possession and switched the ball quickly to Silva.
What followed was agonising for Lampard, Silva’s pass first deflecting off Zouma, then another Chelsea body, before De Bruyne cut on to his left and watched his shot take a wicked deflection off Zouma and past Arrizabalaga. The winner, though, was all about individual brilliance.
When Rodri rolled the ball into the feet of Mahrez, there did not appear to be much on but the Algerian had only one thought in mind, wriggling past both Emerson and Kovacic in the tightest of spaces courtesy of a lovely shuffle of the feet and steering a sweet, low curling shot through the legs of Tomori into the bottom corner. It was a most vital win.