Chelsea 2 - 0 Manchester City: 5 takeaways | Premier League 2018-19

#3 Manchester City and Pep Guardiola pay the price for their player overworking tendencies

They turn in week in and week out, giving it their all

Lets face it, the sky-blue side from Manchester is one of the biggest front runners to this season's Premier League title. After a record-breaking run last season where they finished with 100 points from 38 games, they extended it to this season as well, accumulating 41 points from 15 outings - a mind-blowing 2.73 points per game that is.

City's unerring consistency has entirely been due to its players' efforts, as they turn in week in and week out, giving it their all. But recently, City's consistency started taking a hit, as all the hard work started taking a toll on the players' fitness, and thereby their effectiveness as well.

In Aguero's absence, Gabriel Jesus ran out of form, and Raheem Sterling isn't as threatening in his makeshift central role, while several key players also started developing fatigue issues by turning in for continuous games without a break in between. De Bruyne's injury added to their woes.

Even Guardiola himself may have been aware of that fact, which might be why he instructed his side to put so much effort into starting the initial half hour of the game on the front foot - so as to try and reach a safe perching spot, before they ran out of their peak physical condition.

But the plan backfired, and not only did Chelsea resume the second half with a goal advantage, but they were also able to extend the lead by making use of David Silva and Leroy Sane's exits due to injuries.