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Manchester City made light of a coronavirus outbreak in their ranks, that left them without a number of key first-team players, as they eased to a 3-1 win over Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Sunday.
Despite the absence of several regular starters, City raced into a 3-0 lead with just over half an hour played thanks to strikes from Ilkay Gundogan, Phil Foden, and former Chelsea man Kevin de Bruyne, who starred in midfield for the visitors.
Callum Hudson-Odoi pulled back a late consolation goal for the hosts but the damage had already been done, as Frank Lampard’s men slumped to their second defeat in their last three fixtures and stayed in eighth place in the standings.
City, on the other hand, secured their third straight win in the league and made their way up to fifth in the table, just four points off top spot with a game in hand.
On that note, here are the five major talking points from Manchester City’s emphatic 3-1 away win over Chelsea on Sunday.
#1 Illness-hit Manchester City struggle to make up the numbers
Ahead of a crucial Premier League clash with Chelsea, Pep Guardiola was given an unwelcome selection headache when it was revealed that several of his first-team regulars would be unable for selection.
Right-back Kyle Walker, striker Gabriel Jesus, goalkeeper Ederson, and center-back Eric Garcia were among the high-profile absentees for Guardiola’s men for their trip to Stamford Bridge after a spate of positive COVID-19 tests swept through the City squad.
As a result, City handed a Premier League debut to American goalkeeper Zack Steffen and were left fairly short of substitute options, with the likes of veteran goalkeeper Scott Carson and youngsters Liam Delap and Taylor Harwood-Bellis warming the City bench.
Even though City were able to name a star-studded lineup for the game and welcome Sergio Aguero back to the fold, they would no doubt be hoping that all of their stars are able to make a swift return to first-team football with a backlog of postponed fixtures piles looming.
#2 Gaps starting to appear in Chelsea’s defence
Although Edouard Mendy was brought to Stamford Bridge to act as an alternative for the error-prone Kepa Arrizabalaga, few could have predicted the impact that the Senegalese international would have on a fragile Chelsea backline.
Along with fellow defensive signings Thiago Silva and Ben Chilwell, Mendy struck up an instant relationship with his new teammates, resulting in a run of 5 clean sheets in his first 6 top-flight appearances that included 4 wins, 2 draws. A period in which just 1 goal was conceded.
It was their stellar defensive form that saw Frank Lampard’s men rocket up the Premier League table and led to conversations about the Blues being genuine contenders for the title.
Unfortunately for Chelsea, that initial defensive solidity seems to have taken a significant hit in recent times, as the side have shipped 11 goals in their last 7 Premier League games, a run that includes just one clean sheet, 4 losses, and a draw.
The third goal against City, which resulted from one of Chelsea’s offensive free-kicks for which they left no one back to defend, epitomised the rapid decline of the defensive organisation that won them so many praises earlier on in the season.
As such, defence is definitely an area Frank Lampard will be looking to address in the coming games with his side suffering a slump in form.
#3 Could a mini-break be a blessing in disguise for Manchester City?
A rocky start to the season, followed by an outbreak of coronavirus at their training complex that forced their clash against Everton to be postponed, meant that Manchester City seemed to have fallen off the pace slightly in the title race.
With their closest opponents widening the gap at the top of the table while City were forced to sit idle in self-isolation, doubts had started to creep in whether the former champions would be able to overcome the numerous obstacles they now found in their path to claim the title once again.
While an enforced week-long break roughly halfway through an already compressed Premier League campaign is an undoubted hindrance, City seem to have used this time to good effect and emerged refreshed and re-incentivised on their return to action.
Even in the absence of several first-team members, Pep Guardiola’s men outplayed, out-worked, and out-thought Chelsea at every step and served the league a timely reminder that they were still very much in the title race.
It remains to be seen how well City can deal with the absence of their first-team regulars and the fixture pile-up that is to follow, but it is obvious that their title charge is not to be written off at this stage by any means.
#4 Frank Lampard still searching for Timo Werner’s best position
One of Chelsea’s most high-profile acquisitions over the summer, striker Timo Werner had a slow start to life in the Premier League, taking five games to open his account in the English top flight.
However, having bagged a brace to get off the mark in Chelsea colours, Werner scored two more in his next three appearances and looked to have found his shooting boots once again.
As it happens, Chelsea boast a plethora of options when it comes to strikers, which means that Werner has to alternate between playing through the middle or out on the left wing based on manager Frank Lampard’s team selection.
Against Manchester City, Werner was once again deployed in what most believe to be his preferred position through the middle after an unsuccessful spell on the wing that saw him go 8 Premier League games without scoring.
Unfortunately for the German international, the change in position did not result in a change of fortunes in front of goal as Werner was marked out of the game by City’s attentive defenders and struggled to make an impact on the proceedings.
As such, Lampard and Chelsea will be hoping for Werner to find the form that prompted Chelsea to beat out stiff competition for his signature in the summer, as regular goals are quite high up on the list of demands at Chelsea currently.
#5 The 2020-21 Premier League season might be the closest one in recent memory
One of the most striking factors of Liverpool’s title-winning campaign last season was the utter dominance they displayed over the rest of the division, having virtually secured the title as early as January.
While this was one of the most one-sided title wins in the Premier League era, most of the recent seasons of the English top-flight tell the story of a two-horse race at best, with the top two almost always head and shoulders above the rest of the league.
However, for a variety of reasons, the 2020-21 Premier League campaign seems to be shaping up in a totally different manner.
Instead of one or even two clear frontrunners, there are a handful of sides with genuine title claims with several outsiders that also happen to be well placed with nearly half of the season played out.
Table-topping Liverpool face ninth-placed Southampton on Monday evening with the two sides just 7 points apart with the same number of games played, a far cry from last season, when the Reds were already out of reach even for most teams in the top half of the table.
As such, with the congested calendar, injuries, and illnesses playing a much bigger role on proceedings than ever before, it appears that this season’s title race will be much more keenly contested than most of the others in recent memory.
