Manchester City Beat Chelsea of Premier League

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The defending champions of Manchester City beat Chelsea 1-0 on Thursday reducing the gap between themselves and the top club Arsenal to just five points.

Last year’s title-holders, secured a slim win against Chelsea who had been handicapped by injuries. Pep Guardiola’s team showed patchy play in the first half; however, Jack Grealish and Riyad Mahrez turned the tables after their introduction as substitutes, with the latter `netting the winning goal in the 63rd minute. Graham Potter’s men were sitting low in 10th place prior to kick-off but did take control of much of the opening period.

Yet, in the second half, the visitors picked up their attacking game, with Guardiola attesting to them being “markedly better in every way” following the interval.

Manchester City’s boss told Sky Sports that the first half was difficult, lacking organization and tempo. However, they greatly improved beginning with the first minute of the second period.

Without a doubt, success has long been part of our history. Even though we’ve had some notable accomplishments that indicate the importance of these games; The FA Cup, Carabao (League) Cup, and the renowned Old Trafford, today’s match is no less critical. The team is well aware of this – victory is paramount.

Without Mount and James, Chelsea’s roster suffered an additional blow with the early exit of Sterling due to a hamstring injury. The forward position was up by Aubameyang in his stead.

The home team posed the first real threat, but John Stones of Manchester City had it covered in the 16th minute when Christian Pulisic was running towards the goal. The defenceman made a precisely timed sliding tackle to keep the US striker from scoring.

The American sustains an injury from the challenge and is to take off shortly afterwards, only exacerbating Chelsea’s issues.

Carney Chukwuemeka, a teenage substitute for Pulisic, almost had an immediate impact, but his effort was unfortunately blocked and Ederson managed to save Hakim Ziyech’s attempt.

Erling Haaland, having compiled an astonishing 21 Premier League goals this campaign — outscoring Chelsea’s entire roster by one — unleashed a shot wide in the 38th minute on a rather subdued evening for the Norwegian maestro.

Manchester City Beat Chelsea and kept threatening to score and Chukwuemeka almost did it when he struck the post right before the interval.

Unhappy with what he had seen, Guardiola opted for a double substitution at the break, introducing Rico Lewis and Manuel Akanji in place of Joao Cancelo and Kyle Walker as he sought more control.

The guests quickly got into their stride and started to dominate, with Nathan Ake’s header bouncing off the crossbar. Despite this, Chelsea’s response was impressive as Thiago Silva missed out on breaking the deadlock by a whisker.

Guardiola made some changes to his attack by bringing on Grealish and Mahrez at the hour mark during their draw versus Everton over the weekend.

The choice proved rewarding shortly after when Grealish served up a splendid ball from the left and Mahrez steered it home from near the goal.

Potter replaced some players with England forward Conor Gallagher, yet his efforts weren’t enough as they failed to find a goal during their late charge.

Manchester City beat Chelsea by five points adrift of Arsenal’s total, which dropped when the Gunners were held to a goalless draw against Newcastle, who are performing well this season.

Potter is feeling the heat, as Chelsea only has one victory in their last eight Premier League contests and they are still sitting a distant 10 points adrift of fourth position.

Potter expressed his pride in his team’s display, especially given that they had lost Sterling and Pulisic so soon after kick-off. His Chelsea side goes head-to-head with Manchester City once again for the FA Cup third round at the Etihad on Sunday.

He admitted it was a struggle right now and sympathized with the guys.

Let’s remain unified in the face of this setback. Losing those colleagues was discouraging, yet every one of the players on the pitch and those who entered as subs gave their utmost effort – that’s all we could’ve asked for.