Premier League 2018/19: Chelsea 2-0 Manchester City - 5 Hits and Flops

The Cityzens visited Maurizio Sarri's Chelsea at the Stamford Bridge on Saturday evening. Liverpool's win over Bournemouth earlier in the day had propelled them to the top of the table. The Reds were one point ahead of Manchester City prior to their game against Chelsea. Chelsea came into the game following a loss against Wolverhampton midweek. Manchester City needed at least a point from the clash at Stamford Bridge to regain top spot in the table.

Both coaches played with a false-nine in their lineup. Pep left Sergio Aguero out of his squad while leaving Gabriel Jesus in his bench. He lined up with Sterling in the middle flanked by Sane and Mahrez. Maurizio Sarri left Giroud on the bench and Morata out of his squad. Manchester started the game on the up, passing the ball around and looking to find inroads into the opposition box. Chelsea held their shape no matter how City tried to attack, making their passing game seemingly superfluous.

At the brink of halftime, Chelsea hit the Cityzens with a sucker punch. N'Golo Kante thrashed the ball past Ederson thanks to a pass from Eden Hazard. In the second half, Manchester City's attacks looked much less threatening. They could find no way inside the box with Rudiger and David Luiz clearing any and every danger. Chelsea took their opportunities on even though they had slim chances. David Luiz doubled Chelsea's advantage from a corner kick. Manchester City could find no way back into the game and left Stamford Bridge without troubling Kepa much.

Chelsea's win takes them equal in points to Arsenal, the Blues leading on superior goal difference. Manchester City's unbeaten run comes to an end with their defeat and Liverpool take up their reigns as league leaders, still only one point ahead of the Cityzens.

We take a look at five players who either shined or flopped on the night.

#5 Flop: Marcos Alonso (Chelsea)

Not the best of nights for the Spaniard who lacked pace against Sterling and Mahrez. Sterling turned him inside out at the 33rd minute.

Marcos Alonso started in his usual left-back spot against Manchester City. He did not have any major errors in the game and he played a key pass in the build-up to Kante's goal. But he looked uncomfortable against the pace of Sterling and Mahrez when he came up against them. Sterling beat him all ends up on at least two occasions.

He was dispossessed twice in the game. Also, he couldn't really keep pace with the young Manchester City forward. Apart from the one pass that created the goal, there were no contributions in the attacking end from the Spaniard.

This is not a bad performance, but we did not see Alonso's attacking prowess and pace, something we associate with him more than his defensive contributions. He did win four tackles but on the night when Chelsea was defensive, even Kovacic managed to do that.

#4 Hit: Raheem Sterling (Manchester City)

The only spark in the rather dull Manchester City forward line. Sterling ran tirelessly for 90 minutes.

The young English forward was perhaps the biggest menace for the Chelsea defense yesterday. He turned away from Marcos Alonso sweetly near the half-hour mark but Leroy Sane messed up the finishing touches. He showed no fear while running straight at the defense.

He completed an insane number of dribbles, 9 to be precise, and always found the gap to work his way into the box from the sides. He did not have many shots at goal but he did try and create a lot of opportunities. Ran tirelessly for 90 minutes and worked hard for the whole game but Sane and Gabriel Jesus were just not up to the mark.

Unlucky, but nonetheless a good performance by the young forward who could be named City's player of the day.

#3 Flop: Leroy Sane (Manchester City)

Rudiger flooring the German and he was not the only one who did it. Azpilicueta smothered him all day long.

No shake hands from the coach when he was substituted and seemingly a bit angry while asking him to come off quickly, sums up Leroy Sane's day. He was not too pleased coming out of the pitch to the bench but he left Guardiola no option but to take him off.

He really struggled to beat Azpilicueta for pace and never got the better of the Chelsea full-back. He attempted only 18 passes on the evening and misplaced 4 of them. He couldn't finish from the early chance that Sterling created. He could complete only 1 dribble and was dispossessed thrice. The first goal was also due to a defensive misstep by him. He was caught ball-watching while Kante thrashed the ball into the back of the net.

A disappointing evening for Sane came to an end just 7 minutes into the second half. Some sports outlets gave Sane a rating of as low as 4.5.

#2 Hit: N'Golo Kante (Chelsea)

A good all-around performance from N'Golo Kante who scored the opening goal of the evening

Kante finally put up a solid performance in the role that Sarri newly assigned him. With Jorginho being favored for the defensive midfield role, Kante's role has changed to create an attacking threat for the opposition.

Till now, Kante had not been great in the role but against Manchester City, he looked sublime. He scored the opening goal for Chelsea being at the right place leaving Sane confused. He ran at the defensive quite a few times, creating a direct threat when approaching the box. He dished two key passes in addition to the goal.

Although statistically not a great performance as is the case of midfielders, he was solid as the anchor of the team and his presence did not make it easy for the Cityzens. Chelsea would hope for similar performances from Kante in his new role.

#1 Hit: Cesar Azpilicueta (Chelsea)

A crucial block which kept the tie at deadlock from Cesar Azpilicueta

Absolutely phenomenal. There are no two words that could describe Azpilicueta's performance in a better way. He won an astounding 13 tackles, made 4 interceptions and won 2 aerial duels. Leroy Sane came up against a rock in the wings and never really got the better of him.

Azpilicueta had eyes on Sane all the time that he was on the pitch. He was never beaten for pace by the German and won the battle hands down. If that was not enough, he made a key pass and distributed the ball well with City pressing hard on the ball. He made a good block on Sane when Sterling created the opportunity, keeping the score at 0-0.

When Sane went off, he kept Sterling in check and most of the 6 dispossessions that show up in Sterling's stats are thanks to this man.

A very solid performance from the full-back.