DE BRUYNE KEEPS CITY TOP AS MORATA INJURY HITS CHELSEA
▶ Belgian’s second-half strike gives Guardiola’s men 1-0 triumph at Stamford Bridge
Kevin De Bruyne was the hero for Manchester City last night as his second-half winner kept Pep Guardiola’s side on top of the Premier League table going into the international break as they triumphed over champions Chelsea.
The Belgian midfielder curled home from the edge of the area in the 67th minute after exchanging passes with Gabriel Jesus to give City a 1-0 victory at Stamford Bridge and maintain their unbeaten start to the season in all competitions, which now stretches to 10 games.
“We had more chances, not too many but a little bit more,” De Bruyne told BT Sport. “We played tactically a great game.
“It’s a nice win because it’s difficult to win here.”
The result keeps City ahead of Manchester United on goal difference in the standings after earlier in the day Jose Mourinho’s men had inflicted further misery on bottom side Crystal Palace as they were 4-0 winners, with Maroune Fellaini on the scoresheet twice.
It was Chelsea’s first defeat since the opening day of the season, and it was a miserable night for Antonio Conte’s men as top scorer Alvaro Morata limped off the field in the first half with what appeared to be a hamstring injury.
City had gone into the game with their own injury problems as Sergio Aguero, who had netted five times in his previous three league starts, sidelined with breaking a rib in a car accident on Thursday.
Guardiola had played Jesus on his own in attack, with Leroy Sane and Raheem Sterling acting as support to the Brazilian forward, and the move worked as City pushed forward from the off as Chelsea were put on the backfoot.
Despite dominating the possession statistics, which at one point was as high as 75 per cent, City struggled to get through Chelsea’s well marshalled backline to create chances, with the closest they came to a goal in the first half being when Fernandinho’s header was parried away by Thibault Courtois.
It was more of the same for City after the restart as they continued to control the game with the pace of Sane and Sterling continuing to trouble the Chelsea rearguard.
The breakthrough came through De Bruyne, and although Conte tried to shake things up by bringing on Michy Batshuayi and Pedro on in a double substitution, they rarely threatened the City goal as goalkeeper Ederson kept his fourth successive clean sheet in the league.
Jesus almost doubled City’s lead in the closing stages, but his volley was cleared off the line by Antonio Rudiger.
City are next in action on October 14 at home to Stoke City, and De Bruyne said it was pleasing to go into the break on a high.
“It ends a very nice month for us. it’s only the beginning but it’s good to maintain the winning streak,” he said. “We want to win as many as possible. We want to lose as less game as possible because the feeling when you win is better. We have two games with the national team and then come back and continue.”
Chelsea are also back in action next on October 14 when they will look to continue Palace’s miserable start to the season, which after yesterday stands at seven losses from seven games with no goals.