Manchester City Rallies Back to Beat Chelsea, 2-1

Manchester City defeated Chelsea in the derby of the day in the English Premier League. The reigning champions were better at their Etihad Stadium, with 2-1. They had to come back from behind in order to take the whole prey here and had a lot of luck while doing so.

Chelsea was playing excellent, and they outplayed Citizens in the first half, but couldn’t execute properly. On numerous occasions, Chelsea’s players had solid situations in front of Ederson’s goal, but they lacked concentration and composure to beat the Brazilian goalkeeper.

The Blues smashed Man City in the first 30 minutes, missing the chance to knock out the champions. Christian Pulisic and Tammy Abraham created a lot of problems for the hosts, especially the American international, who went through the City’s defense without any challenge.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFw2m8RBIrw

It resulted in N’Golo Kante’s goal after 21 minutes of play, when he outsmarted the defenders and rushed out Ederson, who misjudged the distance between him and the ball. The French midfielder ran into the empty space behind the back line, after Mateo Kovacic’s assists, and with a little luck, the shot he sent reached the goal line.

Still, Chelsea’s advantage didn’t last for too long. Only eight minutes later, Kevin De Bruyne’s shot from the edge of the box deflected off of one defender, changing the trajectory and finishing behind Kepa’s back.

It was the 37th minute when Riyad Mahrez made a nice individual effort, avoiding several rivals, before sending a nice curl into Chelsea’s net. The guests were shocked with the development, as they dictated and controlled the tempo for the majority of the opening half, but hit the locker rooms with a deficit.

Lampard’s boys tired everything to score at least one goal in the second half, but they didn’t. City’s tough defense resisted, but for the first time after a long time, we didn’t see Guardiola’s guys ending the game with a higher percentage of the possession. However, that wasn’t of any consolation to Lampard, who thinks that his team did play a solid game against one of the best teams in Europe.

“A moment of quality from Mahrez, and a deflection was the difference. Games can be won or lost in the boxes and that was the difference. We’re coming to close the gap, and we’ll have to show our response to losing for the first time in a long time,” he said.

Manchester City beat Chelsea today with just 46.74% possession. It's the lowest ever figure recorded by a Pep Guardiola side in his 381-game managerial career. #bbcfootball pic.twitter.com/QZkmzu1BRI #MCICHE

— Jumah (@ItsJumahK) November 23, 2019

The Sky-Blues had a chance to seal this victory and make it even bigger, but Fernandinho and Mahrez didn’t convert it into a goal. Also, Raheem Sterling’s goal in the third minute of the stoppage time was overturned after a VAR check, because of his minimal offside.

“A great victory for us. After they scored, we suffered a little bit, and in their best moments, we scored. Then we created a lot of chances. They are a top side, but we fought a lot and it’s a great victory,” said Pep Guardiola about this contest.

City jumped over Chelsea in the standings, and they are now third with 28 points, nine fewer than Liverpool, who defeated Crystal Palace earlier today, 1-2. Leicester City has 29, following today’s victory over Brighton on the road, 0-2. Guardiola and his boys have a clash with Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League.

Meanwhile, Chelsea travels to Valencia, to play one of the crucial matches for their UCL campaign.