Manchester City faced off against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge earlier this evening knowing that anything other than the three points would see Liverpool be crowned as the new Premier League champions. The Citizens dominated possession for significant periods of the first half but were lacklustre in the final third. However, it was the home team that took the lead in the 36th minute courtesy of Christian Pulisic’s brilliant breakaway goal.
Pep Guardiola’s team began the second half brightly and managed to score the equaliser through Kevin De Bruyne’s perfectly executed free-kick. However, the West London giants kept threatening on the counter. They were awarded a penalty when Fernandinho handled the ball inside his penalty box and got sent off by the referee. Willian converted the resulting spot-kick with ease as Man City suffered a disappointing 2-1 loss at the English capital.
Let’s take a look at how each Manchester City player fared during the match against Frank Lampard’s men.
GK: Ederson – 5.5/10
The Brazilian keeper was uncharacteristically dodgy at the back as he struggled to make any save of note during the 90 minutes. He couldn’t do much about either of Chelsea’s goals and also gave away the ball cheaply a couple of times in the second 45.
RB: Kyle Walker – 7/10
The English defender found it challenging to deal with Christian Pulisic’s threat on the break. However, he pulled off an excellent last-gasp block in the second half to deny Pulisic from scoring his second goal.
CB: Fernandinho – 4/10
Fernandinho was caught out of position on a few occasions during the game and was given his marching orders after he was caught handling the ball inside his box by VAR. Willian converted the penalty which piled on to his misery today.
CB: Aymeric Laporte – 5/10
He struggled to cope with the pacey Chelsea counter-attacks in what was an uneventful display from him at the heart of Pep Guardiola’s defence.
LB: Benjamin Mendy – 3/10
The French full-back made a nightmare error when there was a communication breakdown between him and Gundogan in the lead-up to Pulisic’s goal in the first half. He looked lazy when defending at the back and lacked sharpness going forward as well.
CM: Ilkay Gündogan – 5/10
The German retained possession well in midfield but failed to create too many clear cut opportunities to score in the final third.
CM: Rodri – 5/10
He failed to provide adequate protection for his teammates at the back when the Chelsea players were threatening on the break. Otherwise, he put in a mediocre display in midfield.
CM: Kevin De Bruyne – 8/10
The Belgian midfield ace didn’t deserve to end up on the losing side today. He singlehandedly dragged his team back into the game with his fantastic free-kick in the second half. He was a constant menace for the opposition and hardly put a foot wrong in the game.
RW: Riyad Mahrez – 6/10
The Algerian winger tried his best to orchestrate a few chances from the right flank. He won a lot of free-kicks for his side but didn’t look like he had a goal in him.
ST: Raheem Sterling – 6/10
The English speedster did well to operate as a makeshift forward and was unfortunate not to score in the second half with his attempt that saw the ball hit the post.
LW: Bernardo Silva – 5.5/10
The Portuguese wide player worked hard but couldn’t make a telling contribution in the opposition half.
Substitutes:
LB: Oleksandr Zinchenko – 6/10
The Ukrainian full-back added more stability down the left flank but didn’t offer much going forward.
CAM: David Silva – 6/10
The Spaniard interchanged the ball well with his teammates in and around the Chelsea penalty box but has not got anything to show for his efforts.
ST: Gabriel Jesus – 6/10
The Brazilian striker was a headache for the home side but never went close to scoring.
CB: Nicolas Otamendi – 5/10
He was mostly a passenger after coming on for the final 16 minutes of the game.
