Manchester City regained top spot in the Premier League with a deserved 1-0 victory over an out-of-sorts Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Saturday.Kevin de Bruyne’s spectacular 67th-minute winner against his former club, a rising left-foot drive from outside the area, gave Pep Guardiola’s side a victory their dominance deserved and saw them leapfrog back over arch-rivals Manchester United.
City are now unbeaten in 15 league games and have dropped only two points this season. Chelsea sustained their second defeat of the campaign at Stamford Bridge and fall to fourth, six points adrift of the two Manchester clubs and one behind Tottenham Hotspur, who are third.
Guardiola’s men coped with Aguero’s absence superbly, and threatened to score long before De Bruyne finally broke the deadlock, with Chelsea keeper Thibaut Courtois making a brilliant reflex save from Fernandinho’s header before the break.
Chelsea started quickly and had an excellent opportunity to take the lead inside three minutes when N’Golo Kante crossed from the right for Morata but the Spaniard’s recent lethal form in front of goal deserted him and he could only loop his header from six metres over.
Guardiola got it very right, as Antonio Conte for once got it very wrong, a complete inversion of last season’s supremely intense matches between the two sides that Chelsea claimed six points from.Guardiola got it very right, as Antonio Conte for once got it very wrong, a complete inversion of last season’s supremely intense matches between the two sides that Chelsea claimed six points from.
Teams
Chelsea: Courtois; Rudiger, Christensen, Cahill; Azpilicueta, Kante, Bakayoko (Batshuayi, 73), Fabregas, Alonso; Hazard (Pedro, 72), Morata (Willian, 35).
Subs not used: Cabellero, Moses, Kenedy, Zappacosta.
Manchester City: Ederson; Walker, Stones, Otamendi, Delph; Fernandinho, De Bruyne (Danilo, 90), Silva (Bernardo Silva, 76); Sterling, Jesus, Sane (Gundogan, 84).
Subs not used: Bravo, Mangala, Zinchenko, Yaya Toure.
