Premier League 2018/19: Chelsea 2-0 Manchester City - 5 Hits and Flops
The Cityzens visited Maurizio Sarri's Chelsea at the Stamford Bridge on Saturday evening. Liverpool's win over Bournemouth earlier in the day had propelled them to the top of the table. The Reds were one point ahead of Manchester City prior to their game against Chelsea. Chelsea came into the game following a loss against Wolverhampton midweek. Manchester City needed at least a point from the clash at Stamford Bridge to regain top spot in the table.
Both coaches played with a false-nine in their lineup. Pep left Sergio Aguero out of his squad while leaving Gabriel Jesus in his bench. He lined up with Sterling in the middle flanked by Sane and Mahrez. Maurizio Sarri left Giroud on the bench and Morata out of his squad. Manchester started the game on the up, passing the ball around and looking to find inroads into the opposition box. Chelsea held their shape no matter how City tried to attack, making their passing game seemingly superfluous.
At the brink of halftime, Chelsea hit the Cityzens with a sucker punch. N'Golo Kante thrashed the ball past Ederson thanks to a pass from Eden Hazard. In the second half, Manchester City's attacks looked much less threatening. They could find no way inside the box with Rudiger and David Luiz clearing any and every danger. Chelsea took their opportunities on even though they had slim chances. David Luiz doubled Chelsea's advantage from a corner kick. Manchester City could find no way back into the game and left Stamford Bridge without troubling Kepa much.
Chelsea's win takes them equal in points to Arsenal, the Blues leading on superior goal difference. Manchester City's unbeaten run comes to an end with their defeat and Liverpool take up their reigns as league leaders, still only one point ahead of the Cityzens.
We take a look at five players who either shined or flopped on the night.
#5 Flop: Marcos Alonso (Chelsea)
Marcos Alonso started in his usual left-back spot against Manchester City. He did not have any major errors in the game and he played a key pass in the build-up to Kante's goal. But he looked uncomfortable against the pace of Sterling and Mahrez when he came up against them. Sterling beat him all ends up on at least two occasions.
He was dispossessed twice in the game. Also, he couldn't really keep pace with the young Manchester City forward. Apart from the one pass that created the goal, there were no contributions in the attacking end from the Spaniard.
This is not a bad performance, but we did not see Alonso's attacking prowess and pace, something we associate with him more than his defensive contributions. He did win four tackles but on the night when Chelsea was defensive, even Kovacic managed to do that.