Manchester City 6-0 Chelsea: 5 Hits and Flops
Sergio Aguero's record-equaling hat-trick, two more goals from Raheem Sterling and another by Ilkay Gundogan saw Manchester City ease to a dominant 6-0 thrashing against Maurizio Sarri's limp Chelsea side - who are under further pressure after disappointing results of late.
The result propels Pep Guardiola and City back to the Premier League's top spot after Liverpool's win on Saturday while inflicting Chelsea's record worst league defeat ever, having conceded four goals in the first half of a top-flight fixture for the first time since December 1999 among other ominous records which suggest there are problems aplenty for the Blues to ponder in west London.
With the UEFA Europa League returning this Thursday, as well as important cup fixtures against both Manchester clubs and a home league clash with Tottenham to come before March, it'll be interesting to see how the visitors react.
City oozed class and after a recent hiccup at St. James Park, proved once again why they're defending champions and are relishing Liverpool's title challenge this year. With all of that in mind, here's a look at five hits and flops from an emphatic City victory:
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#5 Flop: David Luiz
There were a few Chelsea players, unsurprisingly, in contention for a spot among the flops today. Ross Barkley didn't cover himself in glory before being replaced early in the second half, while goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga should've done better to save a few of City's six goals over the 90 minutes.
Cesar Azpilicueta, Mr Reliable, was not so and conceded a spot-kick after hauling down Sterling - but the Spaniard still delivered more of a defensive shift at right-back than Luiz in the heart of Chelsea's backline.
Luiz, whose lapses in concentration and inability to tackle with much conviction are alarming, was truly exposed on this occasion. City was rampant from minute one and their counter-attacking brilliance proved too much for Chelsea to handle, though Luiz, in particular, should have done better to stop them easing their way into the final third whenever they pleased.
Bernardo Silva's cross took a wicked deflection off him into Sterling's path for City's first goal. If he was alert to the danger and actually went to pressure the winger, rather than jockey, the ball probably would have been cut out altogether or spun away from goal instead.
There was nothing he could really do about goals three and four, but for Aguero's first goal again, he lacked urgency to defend or help support his teammates. Instead, he watched Aguero strike beyond Rudiger's best efforts on the edge of the box, as opposed to helping make it more difficult - or better yet - attempting to block the shot.
He let substitute Gabriel Jesus get the better of him too easily and was arguably fortunate not to have given away a spot-kick himself after a blatant push on his compatriot, to distract him from shooting.
As for goal number six, Luiz was once again caught ball-watching. He was alongside Raheem before Oleksandr Zinchenko whipped the ball in, but let the winger evade his attention and rifle home from close-range, seemingly perplexed as to how the ball got to him.