Manchester City 6-0 Chelsea
Manchester City returned to the top of the Premier League tonight with a stunning win, piling heaps of misery onto sorry Chelsea.
And it was a historic night for Sergio Aguero, who fired his 11th Premier League hat-trick, a feat bettered by no-one. Raheem Sterling added a brace as City simply destroyed a poor Chelsea side which, courtesy of the six goal swing, has dropped below Manchester United and Arsenal to sixth in the table.
After a 4-0 thumping at the hands of mid-table Bournemouth Maurizio Sarri admitted that he was struggling to motivate his players. Well we said that Chelsea were attempting the impossible at the Etihad, but I can’t say they made much of an attempt! Maybe Sarri is right.
Meanwhile, the Premier League 2019 betting odds are edging towards the title returning to the Etihad, and on this performance that makes a whole lot of sense.
Highlights of the game
This game was over in half an hour as the Sky Blues breezed into a four goal lead. It could have been more as the hosts blew the Blues away with some scintillating football. It took only four minutes for the Sky Blues to go ahead as the Chelsea defenders still looked to be finding their places. Kevin De Bruyne took a quick free-kick to Bernardo Silva who crossed for Raheem Sterling to fire home from ten yards. It was just too simple.
Hat-trick man Aguero missed an absolute sitter before he opened his account. Silva rolled the ball across the box and the unmarked City top scorer somehow screwed the ball wide from all of three yards! But minutes later he smashed one into the top corner from almost 30 yards out to give Kepa no chance in the Chelsea goal.
Only 19 minutes had gone when Aguero scored his second and City went 3-0 up; and it was a nightmare for Chelsea midfielder Ross Barkley, who tried to head the ball back to his keeper but it went straight into Aguero’s path and beat Kepa again.
The Chelsea defence was all over the place when City made it four on 25 minutes. A weak clearance from David Luiz reached Ilkay Gundogan on the edge of the penalty area and he fired low and true into the corner beyond the reach of the despairing keeper.
It’s hard to fathom, but Chelsea had a good share of the first half and plenty of possession in the hosts’ half. Gonzalo Higuain had the visitors’ best effort, hitting a beautiful dipping volley but Ederson was equal to it with a fingertip save.
Aguero came so close to his hat-trick just after the break heading a De Bruyne cross against the bar, but he didn’t have to wait long for his big moment. In an uncharacteristic moment, the normally excellent Cesar Azpilicueta fouled Sterling and the referee pointed to the spot.
Up stepped Aguero, to fire a perfect penalty into the corner, sending the keeper the wrong way. And that was enough for Pep Guardiola who pulled his big players off, substituting Aguero, De Bruyne and Fernandinho as some Chelsea fans made an early exit. The Blues did have another chance with a free kick but Emerson shot straight at Ederson.
And there was more pain for Chelsea on 80 minutes when Sterling, who opened the scoring, ended the proceedings with a cleverly chipped shot over Kepa and into the net.
Key Statistics
The weekend’s Premier League results kept City on their toes, with Liverpool and Spurs both winning, but this was an emphatic response.
Amazingly, Chelsea had over 48 per cent possession in the opening 45 and won the first half shot count by eight to five, but they found themselves 4-0 down! City was simply ruthless.
Today was all about Sergio Aguero. The Argentine has now equaled Alan Shearer’s Premier League record of 11 hat-tricks and he has scored an incredible 43 goals in 64 appearances against top six teams.
But sad Chelsea is yet to score an away goal in 2019.
What’s next?
The Champions League is back this week and we’re already making our SBOBET tips, so take a look tomorrow before the action starts on Tuesday.
Manchester City has a favourable draw against FC Schalke, not having the best of seasons in the Bundesliga. That game is next week, and before that the Sky Blues have an FA Cup tie away to Newport County.
With Manchester United’s resurgence under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Chelsea is now out of the Champions League places, and on this form the Blues will struggle to get back in. They play at home to the Red Devils in the FA Cup, but have a Europa League tie against Malmo to contend with before that.
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