Manchester City 6-0 Chelsea: 5 Men who were brilliant for Pep Guardiola
Manchester City welcomed Chelsea to the Etihad Stadium on Sunday night for a blockbuster end to the weekend. The game was vital for both Pep Guardiola and Maurizio Sarri for entirely different reasons.
A Man City win would mean that the current champions would go top of the table, even though Liverpool have a game in hand. A loss would render them further behind in the race to retain their title. For Sarri, the stakes were a lot different. Manchester United had closed the gap in the last few weeks and were currently sitting above the blues at fourth.
Kyle Walker, John Stones, Aymeric Laporte, and Zinchenko making up the back four. He put De Bruyne and Gundogan alongside Fernandinho in the middle while Bernardo Silva and Raheem Sterling joined Aguero in the attack.
Sarri continued with Kepa in goal with Alonso, Luiz, Rudiger, and Azpilicueta making up the back four. In the midfield, Jorginho was joined by Kante and Barkley, while Hazard, Higuain, and Pedro made up the front three.
City started the brighter of the two sides and were ahead as early as the 4th minute through Sterling. In the 13th minute, Aguero doubled the lead and in the 19th minute, made it 3-0. Gundogan put City 4-0 in the 25th minute as City ran rampant in the first half.
After the break, Aguero scored from the spot in the 56th minute and then Sterling added his second of the night in the 80th minute. In the end, Guardiola's City was too strong for Sarri's Chelsea.
While Pep Guardiola got his tactics right, he has these 5 men to thank for a blistering win over Chelsea.
#5 Ikay Gundogan
The German International had an important duty on the night as he was asked to keep an eye on Jorginho. Gundogan carried out his responsibility with aplomb, ensuring that Sarri's midfield general was largely a spectator in the first half.
Gundogan was also tasked with aiding his attackers, helping them inflict wave after wave of attack on the Chelsea defense. He was always around the box to pick up the pieces and keep the ball moving. However, his telling contribution to the game came in the 25th minute, when he got to the end of a loose ball outside the box and directed a wonderful volley into the far post.
Gundogan ensured that the Chelsea midfield never took off and helped his team win 3 important points on the night.