It’s always difficult to come up against the reigning champions of the Premier League, and the least that you can hope for is to put up a fight. After all, this is the top flight of English football we’re talking about here, and unpredictability is often located towards the top of the priority list on a week to week basis. Unfortunately for Chelsea fans, they were left feeling pretty empty tonight as they were dismantled 6-0 by Manchester City at the Etihad.
Nothing but the best
City have made a habit out of starting early over the course of the last few weeks, and there weren’t many fans who would’ve been expecting anything different from this one – unless you were the most optimistic of Chelsea fans. In what was the football equivalent of a ten second knockout, Raheem Sterling started off proceedings with a fourth minute strike that really did set the tempo for the rest of the afternoon.
Sergio Aguero, who became Man City’s all time leading league goalscorer in this game, made it two with an utterly stunning effort from 30 yards out. Ironically enough that goal came just moments after he missed from two yards away, and his day just got better and better from that point on.
Unstoppable
Aguero made it three from close range following a howler from Ross Barkley, who had arguably his worst game from throughout his run as a Premier League player. Ilkay Gundogan got in on the act within 25 minutes to really rub salt in the wounds, as City proceeded to sit back on what they already had. Aguero then completed his 11th Premier League hat trick from the penalty spot, equalling the tally set by Alan Shearer.
Raheem Sterling, who also had a great game, got his second of the day to bookmark what was one of the most obvious displays of City’s dominance we’ve seen in a long time. The champions will turn their attention towards an FA Cup tie at Newport County next weekend, whereas Chelsea will need to get their head back in the game pretty quickly before they travel to face Malmo in the Europa League on Thursday.
Match Report
Man City: Ederson (7.5), Zinchenko (8.5), Laporte (7), Stones (7.5), Walker (7.5), Gundogan (8), Fernandinho (8), De Bruyne (7.5), Sterling (9.5), Aguero (10), B.Silva (8), D.Silva (6), Jesus (6.5), Mahrez (6)
Chelsea: Arrizabalaga (5), Azpilucueta (5), Rudiger (5.5), Luiz (5.5), Alonso (5.5), Kante (6), Jorginho (6), Barkley (5), Pedro (6), Higuain (6), Hazard (6.5), Loftus-Cheek (6), Kovacic (6), Emerson (6)
Referee: Mike Dean
Goals: Sterling x2, Aguero x3, Gundogan
Yellow Cards: Gundogan, Alonso, Jorginho
Red Cards: N/A
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