Manchester City Vs Chelsea

Blues vs The Citizens

    Image source: tribuna.com

What's changed:

The Premier League was finally back after the international break with fans waiting for the contest between Manchester City vs Chelsea. It had been a disappointing week for Guardiola as his team had slumped to their 3rd defeat of the campaign against last seasons title runners up Liverpool. On the other hand, Lampard's men had been on an impressive 6 match winning streak this campaign before the international break. Initially, the appointment of Lampard was met with mixed reactions as everybody expected Roman Abramovic to appoint a veteran manager after Maurizio Sarri departed for Italian giants Juventus. With the sale of talisman Eden hazard to 13 times Champions League winners Real Madrid and the transfer ban slapped on them, it looked like Chelsea would struggle. But, Lampard's trust in his youth players had proved to be useful with the likes of Tammy Abraham, Mason Mount, and £58m signing Christian Pulisic having played an important part this campaign.

    Image source: football.london

Match preview:

Guardiola and Lampard had faced each other twice with both encounters coming in the Champions League when Lampard was a player at Chelsea and Guardiola had managed Barcelona. Lampard prevailed against Guardiola as the Blues came out on top against the Catalans giants and went on to win the trophy. With Ethihad was set to host the clash, the Citizens have had a greater record as the Blues had failed to win their previous 3 away encounters against the defending premier league champions. The previous encounter was the major headlines as the Blues suffered a humiliating defeat (Man City 6 - 0 Chelsea ) at the hands of Guardiola's men. City made 5 changes to his side that lost to Liverpool with Walker, Angeliño, Bravo, Gündoğan dropped to the bench while Bernardo Silva was suspended. Shot stopper Ederson returned to the Starting 11 after suffering an injury against Atlanta F.C. Meanwhile, Lampard made 2 changes from the side that won against the Eagles as Mason Mount and Reece James were replaced by Jorginho and Azpilicueta returned from suspension while Callum Hudson-Odoi was out with a hamstring issue. Both teams looked to determine to get 3 points but the question was "Will the defending champions bounce back from their defeat or will Lampard prevail against Guardiola once again"?

The match began with Manchester City dominating in the early stages of the game as expected as the hosts tried to pile the pressure on the visitors. But, to everyone's surprise,

the visitors responded with Willian leading the attack and applying pressure on the hosts with deliveries Kovacic and Jorginho commanding the midfield. As the final blew, the score was (Man city 2 -1 Chelsea). It was the defending champions who claimed 3 points against the Blues. It was surprising as everybody expected that the Citizens would win comfortably, but Lampard's men almost pulled off an unexpected win over the defending champions. 

  Talking points from the contest:

   

     Image source: completesports.com

1. Goal Scoring opportunities:

As the match began, we all expected that the hosts would pile the pressure on the visitors. Naturally, it was not surprising as Guardiola's men had always got off to a blistering start against the big teams. In this clash, everybody had expected the hosts to break the deadlock in the early minutes of the game and there were almost very close to scoring with an early chance coming in the 4th minute when Aguero had slipped the ball towards De Bruyne who lashed the ball towards the posts but it was narrowly wide. Chelsea responded on their own when Abraham pounced on Cancelo's loose ball in the 8th minute and the ball was fed to Willian whose shot was narrowly wide. The moment of the match came when Kepa's awkward clearance landed on Aguero's feet who smashed the ball, but it hit the post with Chelsea surviving an early scare. Surprisingly, it was the visitors who broke the deadlock when Kovacic's delivered a cross to Kante who scored past Ederson to give the lead in the 21st minute. The lead lasted for 8 minutes when City's Kevin De Bruyne equalized as his shot nicked off Tomori and Zouma into the back of the net. 

    Image source: insta-stalker.me

2.Guardiola's possession stats:

We all know how Pep Guardiola is ruthless and dominant in terms of dominating a game. Ever since he had stepped into management, he has shown the world how to turn the game towards his side. His time at Barcelona has been regarded as his 'Golden period'. Facing the likes of Inter Milan, Manchester United and Real Madrid, his philosophy known as 'Tiki-Taka' has proved to be a major success in his career. The philosophy which was invented by the great 'Johan Cruyff' has been adopted by Guardiola to date. After Guardiola was appointed as 'The Bavarians' boss, the philosophy was incorporated into the squad which was instrumental in Bayern winning the Bundesliga title 3 times under his leadership. The 'Tiki-Taka' style was adopted by the Citizens after Pep's appointment and has proved to be a success. But against the Blues, it was the other way round. Even though the hosts won the match, it wasn't how everyone expected. The post-match statistics recorded Man City's possession. It was shocking. According to the stats, Man City's possession figure was 46.7% was the lowest ever recorded by Guardiola in his 381 matches in-charge. We are still in awe that 'How is this possible'? 

    Image source: dailymail.co.uk

3.Man city's defensive woes: 

It was never surprising that Man City have always had defensive issues. Even though the Citizens are very dangerous when they attack, their defense had always been a talking point. When Guardiola arrived at The Ethihad, he splashed £50m on John Stones who was the most expensive defender in 2016. A lot of expected for Stones to shine for Pep as he had been a star for the Toffees under Roberto Martinez. It looked like the arrival of Stones was the solution to the Citizen's backline as their captain Vincent Kompany was injured. But, the signing of Stones had been dubbed as a disaster as he had performed underwhelmingly in big games and the return of their captain meant that the former Toffees defender was out of favor. The following season we saw the former Barcelona and Bayern Munich boss signed Aymeric Laporte in the winter transfer window. The partnership of Kompany and Laporte had been instrumental in City winning the domestic treble in the 2018-19 campaign. But ever since the departure of Kompany and Laporte being sidelined with a knee injury, it looks like City's backline is not trustworthy with the duo of Stones and Otamnedi. The question is 'Will Pep find a solution to his team's defensive woes'?

   Image source: youtube.com

With this victory, Man City are 3rd in standings 9 points behind Klopp's men and 1 point behind the Foxes. Meanwhile, Chelsea's winning run was ended even though they had opportunities to put the game to bed. Lampard's winning streak against Pep had also ended with this loss. As we are close to the halfway mark of the campaign, the question is 'will the defending champions climb up the standings to retain their title against all odds'?

Author,

Zaid