The top of the table clash saw the league leader's Manchester city get the better of second-placed Chelsea and extend their lead at the summit to 13 points.
Follow Us
Kevin de Bruyne scored a stunning goal as Manchester city defeated Chelsea 1-0 in the Premier League fixture at Etihad Stadium on Saturday. The top of the table clash saw the league leader extending their lead at the summit to 13 points. The first half was a cagey affair as both teams failed to create too many clear cut chances. After the break, City came out with a bit more intent and raised their level of play to put their nose in front in the 70th minute. Meanwhile Thomas Tuchel’s side didn’t have a great game, managing to register only a single shot on target in the entire match.
A classy Kevin De Bruyne finish makes it 12 #PL wins in a row for Man City#MCICHE pic.twitter.com/Nu4U52Maoy
— Premier League (@premierleague) January 15, 2022
Pep Guardiola’s side uncharacteristically started the match with long aerial balls while Chelsea resorted to passing the ball around and keeping the ball possession. Aymeric Laporte played a long ball from the back to Jack Grealish on the left, Kepa Arrizabalaga quickly came out of his line to clear but only managed to shin it into his own teammate Cesar Azpilicueta, and the deflection went wide of an empty goal.
Inside 10 minutes, Romelu Lukaku got a good chance to put chelsea in front as he spun John Stones with ease before romping forward, tried to slip-in Hakim Ziyech and wasted the opportunity as it was a clumsy pass.
John Stones’ header from a corner went straight to Kepa. Meanwhile Chelsea were stitching together some passes and getting into good positions but were let down by some poor decision making in the final third.
The best chance of the half fell to Grealish courtesy of an error from Mateo Kovacic. The Croatian midfielder plays a blind pass infield from the left, and Grealish is clear on goal. Kepa comes off his goal and closes the gap and Grealish’s attempted chip takes a slight deflection off the keeper and goes out.
City started the second half with their usual pass-and-move style of football. Before the hour-mark, Azpilicueta was close to scoring an own goal as he flashed a header behind from a corner. Few minutes later, De Bruyne’s free-kick was palmed away by Kepa.
Rodri robbed the ball from Lukaku before releasing Sterling, whose shot from inside the box went inches wide of the left-hand post.
20 minutes from time, Manchester City broke the deadlock courtesy of De Bruyne’s stunning strike. The Belgium international battled his way past N’Golo Kane before curling a brilliant shot from outside the box to the bottom corner. City were now clearly the better side and Grealish tested Kepa four minutes from time.
City managed to hold on to the slender lead and take all three points while Chelsea could find themselves dropped to third position if Liverpool gets the better of Brentford on Sunday.
Manchester City vs Liverpool: Talking points from the action-packed draw
