Manchester City 6-0 Chelsea: 3 Takeaways

Manchester City thrashed Chelsea 6-0 in a one-sided match at the Etihad yesterday to go to the top of the league table with 65 points from 27 matches. 2nd placed Liverpool also have 65 points, but City boasts of a superior goal difference. However, Liverpool have one game in hand and the title race between those two promises to turn out as one of the best in Premier League’s history.

City scored 4 goals within the first 25 minutes and made a mockery of the match in the first half itself. They added two more in the second half and completed the demolition job. Sergio Aguero scored a hattrick, the wonderful Raheem Sterling added two more and Ilkay Gundogan rounded off the tally. It was also sweet revenge for City, as they avenged their 0-2 loss against Chelsea in December.

Pep Guardiola’s side continues to be supremely dominant in their home ground, as they toyed with Chelsea last night to leave the 2016-17 league champions wounded and humiliated. It was a clinical annihilation that leaves Maurizio Sarri’s position in jeopardy and did considerable damage to Chelsea’s prospects of finishing inside the top 4. It was Chelsea’s heaviest defeat since they lost 0-7 to Nottingham Forest in 1991.

We would now take a look at the 3 takeaways from the match.

#1 The positional play of City players was too good for Chelsea

City had 56% ball-possession in yesterday’s match, which is not staggering by their standards. However, when they had the ball, they did far more damage with their precise and astute passing and intelligent positional play.

Sergio Aguero scored his 11th hattrick to equal Alan Shearer’s record feat, and strengthened his claim to be the most clinical striker inside the penalty box since Romario. He has now scored 23 goals this season and 222 overall for City. Yesterday’s hattrick, however, was a testimony to his shooting prowess too, as he scored a scorcher with a 25-yard shot from outside the penalty box.

Chelsea’s defenders and defensive midfielders found it almost impossible to mark the City players, as they frequently changed their positions to keep the fluidity of their game intact. The City players’ off-the-ball play was too lethal and sophisticated for the sluggish Chelsea defence and they kept making inroads with their slippery runs.

Aguero got into the perfect scoring position to score his first goal from a misplaced headed back-pass from Ross Barkley, while Sterling ran into empty spaces inside the penalty box to score both his goals.

#2 Chelsea looked clueless and jaded, to say the least

One might run short of adjectives while describing Chelsea’s abject performance yesterday. They looked a pale shadow of the team that won the Premier League in 2016-17, in spite of retaining at least 6 players of that squad in their starting lineup last night. None of their defenders except Antonio Rudiger seemed to have any clue about the potential movement of the City forwards.

David Luiz struggled from the beginning, and Cezar Azpilicueta conceded a penalty for tripping Sterling inside the box after being outrun and outmaneuvered by the latter. Marcus Alonso was given a torrid time by Bernardo Silva down the right flank and Jorginho did not even come close to deciphering the passing sorcery of City’s midfielders.

Sarri’s team had also conceded 4 goals against Bournemouth a few weeks ago, and continue to have the worst defense among the big clubs in England. Luiz is usually too error-prone and clumsy against stronger opponents, and Azpilicueta is probably past his prime. The signs are ominous for Chelsea, and more such humiliations await them if they do not mend their ways.

#3 Guardiola did not tinker with his side’s formation much and kept things simple

Guardiola opted to start with a 4-5-1 formation with Kyle Walker and Oleksandr Zinchenko as the full-backs and Aymeric Laporte and John Stones as the center-backs. Laporte and Stones impressed with their poise and precise passing when City started playing all-out after conceding 4 goals in the first half.

Zinchenko was superb with his overlapping runs and Walker lent solidity to the defence. Walker’s cautious approach allowed Zinchenko to attack continuously through the left flank and he also played his part in their 6th goal. Fernandinho was a rock in City’s midfield and Bernardo Silva worked tirelessly. City’s defenders made some superb blocks inside their penalty box when Chelsea desperately tried to score a goal after being 0-4 down.

However, it was Sterling who stole the show with a scintillating display last night. Sterling now has 13 goals and 10 assists from 32 matches this season and has improved by leaps and bounds as a player under Guardiola’s tutelage. He moved freely inside the Chelsea half and made life miserable for their defenders. City’s other attacking players also kept looking for space in the final third, and whenever they had it, they wasted no time and took shots at goal.