Manchester City 1 Chelsea 3
Chelsea scored all the goals at the Etihad.
Early on, I thought Kevin De Bruyne’s foot had miscontrolled the ball, then realised he’d made a short pass to Navas.
First half, a lot of the play was round the ball and super-competitive, with very few crossfield passes trying to open it up.
Fernandinho made a hatchet-tackle on Victor Moses that was… out of order.
With Leroy Sane playing at left wing-back, the contest was fast, intricate & different : an armchair tactician’s wet dream.
A stop-start war of attrition with Chelsea sometimes pushing City, who had mirrored their back three, into a back five.
I was loving the game without caring who won.
But thinking: Whoever wins this has a very good chance of winning the League.
Even though the first 20 saw a lot marking, tackling and fouling.
In 21, Aguero, looking very fired-up, hit a shot that Courtois tipped over the bar.
In 25, a whipped free-kick from De Bruyne found the head of Fernandinho but it was disallowed for offside, correctly so.
At the other end, Hazard, moving into the box one-on-one against Claudio Bravo, tried to square the ball. Was he scared to miss?
In 29, the crowd went mad when David Luiz blocked off Aguero,who was released by De Bruyne’s lofted pass, but referee Anthony Taylor ignored it. Why dindt the ref give a free-kick? Was Aguero ever gonna reach that ball?
In 45+, a Jesus Navas cross into the box found the weak point in Antonio Conte’s 3-4-3 system: Gary Cahill is not left-footed. And he’s not Bonucci.
Instead of using his left foot, Cahill panicked and lunged with his right and shinned it past Courtois to put Manchester City 1-0 up at half-time.
If you play 3-4-3 and aspire to the highest level you must have a left- footed centreback in that role. Umtiti, now at Barcelona, is the kind of defender City need.
As I’ve been saying in earlier blogs, Diego Costa is a very efficient gladiator. And a changed man. Although he has a black belt in argy-bargy, we can’t remember his last yellow card.
Second half, when Leroy Sane sliced forward beautifully, leaving Azpil for dead, he gave De Bruyne a good chance,but the Belgian’s shot hit the shin of Courtois, his compatriot.
It was still 1-0 when Willian came on for Pedro in 50, the latter having been unable to run off a knock received in the first half.
Then Kante picked up a card for a late challenge on David Silva.
Kante is a very smart acquisition by Chelsea. He helps you all day long, always available, super-mobile, steely as well as skilful AND quicker to the ball than any midfielder I’ve seen since Lassana Diarra.
By now I’m thinking: At 1-0, anything can still happen.
In 53, Aguero nicked the ball off Cahill but took a shot when he should have passed to De Bruyne.
In 57, a swift City counter-attack: Gundogan to David Silva to Navas overlapping, the winger hit a killer ball low to the far post, KDB raced in, the ball bounced a fraction high and when his stretching left boot made contact three yards from the goal, the ball clipped the top of the crossbar and flew straight up in the air.
In a six-point game like this, a mega moment & a miss that would probably be punished.
However, the tension as huge because the battle could still go either way.
WHO WILL SCORE THE NEXT GOAL?
In 60, Fabregas found Diego Costa with one of his laser-guided 50-yard diagonals. The gladiator chested the ball away from Otamendi, took one touch and buried his shot low past Bravo.
So it’s 1-1 after an hour but with David Silva having a good game, the contest can still go either way.
In 62, Aguero banged a shot straight at Courtois.
In 66, Moses cleared a ball that was aimed at Aguero.
In 69, Clichy replaced Sane at left back and moments later Chelsea broke away, Hazard found Costa and he set up Willian for a low shot across the keeper.
City 1 Chelsea 2
In 75, Yaya Toure replaced Gundogan and soon after that Guardiola gambled by bringing on striker Iheanacho for John Stones.
In 85, sub Chalobah came on for Costa and when Marcos Alonso lifted a ball directly forward, Hazard spurted beyond Kolarov. His first touch on the bouncing ball was a very good one with his stomach and Hazard’s second touch was a shot inside of the post, after which he flew into a triumphant knee-slide.
City 1 Chelsea 3
The we saw a disgusting late foul by the frustrated Aguero on David Luiz, ramming his studs into the Brazilian’s knee just after he cleared a ball near the touchline when the contest was all but over.
Obvious red card.
After the final whistle, in an ugly finale, Fernandinho was sent off for shoving Fabregas over an advertising hoarding.
Football is an emotional game? Yes. But Aguero will miss four league games and Fernandinho will miss three. The captain of Brazil should know better.
Gary Neville gave Man of the Match to Diego Costa.
VERDICT: A terrific game of football, the best I’ve seen in the PL this term, with electric skills on display and huge energy expended by both teams.
The home team won the first half 1-0 and the visitors won the second half 3-0 and Chelsea scored all four goals and will be champions.
Antonio Conte has re-organised his team, so they know how stay in a game, score, control the narrative and then wrap three points with minimum fuss.
Saturday’s match showed Man City to be a team of gifted technicians, whereas Chelsea are a team of highly-qualified assassins who can win a series of games one at a time, while always saving something for the next battle.
Champions? Definitely.
Chelsea are the most ruthlessly efficient professionals in the Premier League.
PS. They’re not in Europe. But they will be next September and the Champions League will suit them.
PPS: Liverpool were 2-0 up at Bournemouth today and then 3-1 up. But they lost 4-3.