Barney Ronay on Chelsea’s flaws.
Frank reacts.
The thoughts of Kevin De Bruyne
“I think after 5-10 minutes we found our rhythm and played very well. We took our chances at the right time and defensively we were solid for 90 minutes. It’s a little shame about the goal in injury time.
“We play a little bit differently this year and are adjusting to the personnel we have, but we have been finding our rhythm in the past month and playing better. The difference today is that when we had the chances we took them.
“It was a little bizarre in the beginning [playing centre-forward]. I’ve done it a couple of times in my career. Obviously we have a lot of forward players out. The coach asked me to do this job so I tried to do it as well as possible.
“It was important to win one of these big games. This year we’ve played well in some big games but we haven’t won them. It’s very important to win those games. We’re getting closer and that’s all we can do right now.
“I don’t really have an explanation [why teams at the top are dropping more points than usual]; it just is what it is. Every game we play, you don’t get the feeling that it’s going to be an easy game; that doesn’t happen this year. If you’re only at 95 per cent you’re not going to win. But we need to go on a run of winning games.”
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“Twice this season, Chelsea have gone in 3-0 down at half-time,” says Andy Scott, “and my initial reaction to both was, ‘If they don’t put a shift in after half-time Lampard will be getting a call from Roman this evening.
“In both games (West Brom and City today) Chelsea have at least demonstrated some effort in the second half. It’s the absolute minimum that should be expected but its probably saved Lampard on both occasions. At least Frank can still claim to have the dressing room, even if he isn’t able to demonstrate what to do with the players in it.”
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Breaking news: Pep Guardiola is smiling
He’s sporting a big cheesy one as he rubs Joao Cancelo’s hair and chats to him. Pep must have loved that, especially the first half in which City took Chelsea to the cleaners.
Ilkay Gundogan, Phil Foden and Kevin De Bruyne scored fine goals, and with greater concentration City could have doubled their score in the second half. Even Callum Hudson-Odoi’s injury-time consolation couldn’t harsh Pep’s buzz.
City move up to fifth, four points behind Liverpool and Manchester United with a game in hand. Yeah, they’re in the a title race.
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Full time: Chelsea 1-3 Man City
Peep peep! Time will tell whether this is the start of a revival or the last hurrah of a great side, but either way Manchester City were wonderful.
GOAL! Chelsea 1-3 Man City (Hudson-Odoi 90+2)
Chelsea get a late consolation. Havertz breaks the left and curls an inviting cross to the far post, where Hudson-Odoi gets the run on Zinchenko and slams a shot past Steffen from close range. City have conceded a goal!
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90+1 min “I’m curious as to why people are still calling OGS a young manager?” says Benjamin Park. “He’s been a professional manager since 2011 (excluding Man Utd reserves) and the same age as Brendan Rodgers. I’m not commenting on his performance as a manager, but to still classify him as a young manager seems a bit weird to me. In comparison, this is Lampard’s third season in total and Arteta’s first full season.”
He’s a young manager at big-club level, in his second full season; that’s what people mean I guess. And he looks like he’s 28 years old.
90 min Bernardo Silva is booked for something or other.
88 min Chelsea win a corner. Werner is on his haunches; it’s been another chastening day for him. Mount takes the corner and Fernandinho heads it away.
87 min “I really like John Stones, the Rio Ferdinand of this generation, the Rolls Royce of English defenders,” says Robert Lin. “Remember Rio had many shaky moments himself in his early years before becoming arguably the best English centre half since Bobby Moore.”
That’s true - though he didn’t have as many, and he’d cracked it long before the age of 26. But right now Stones looks the best centre-half available to England.
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86 min City make their last two changes: Riyad Mahrez and Sergio Aguero replace Kevin De Bruyne, whose genius almost brings a lump to the throat, and the superb Phil Foden.
85 min “Hi Rob,” says Habib Butt. “I hope the Frank Lampard press conference makes up for the disappointing second half.”
84 min De Bruyne plays the ball back to Steffen from 70 yards, because he can.
83 min De Bruyne’s shot hits the wall and goes behind for a corner.
83 min Thiago Silva fouls Sterling just outside the area. The free-kick is a fair way to the right of centre, and De Bruyne is over it.
83 min “Hi Rob,” says Admir Pajic. “Unlike any other Abramovich’s manager at Chelsea, Lampard is a club legend (more importantly, a club legend who earned that status during Abramovich’s reign) and that’s going to buy him more time than, say, Andre Villas Boas or Di Matteo had.
“That being said, Lampard’s Chelsea look like the most naive incarnation of Emirates-era Arsenal - so much talent across the team but troubles in front of either goal prove costly in big games. Just think of that 4-0 defeat at Old Trafford last season which now looks like a trailer for the Lampard’s era.”
They had a really good run of clean sheets earlier in the seaosn, but in the last month or so they’ve been a mess. I’m not sure what to make of them.
81 min An excellent cross from Hudson-Odoi is headed wide at the far post by the flying Pulisic. It wasn’t an easy chance on the run.
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77 min Another Chelsea change: Kai Havertz replaces Mateo Kovacic.
76 min Werner tries to run Stones, who guides him out of play with the minimum of fuss. His unexpected revival is a really nice story.
76 min “Whilst acknowledging that I have no expertise on the use of colloquial terms by Uruguayans,” begins Stefan Volkmann, “Germain Ott’s comments seem to lead to the conclusion that we should treat the use of the same (or very similar) term by individuals of the same nationality differently because of the (apparently clear) different intent behind the use of that term. That is problematic when it comes to uniform application.”
75 min Fernandinho replaces Ilkay Gundogan, whose masterful first goal started it all. He’s such an admirable player, a poster boy for unobtrusive excellence.
74 min There was a spell at the start of the second half when it looked like Chelsea were about to give up, but they have played with decent intent since then. Frank Lampard will be pleased with that if nothing else today.
72 min “Evening Rob,” says Tom Atkins. “The PL’s three young club ‘legends’ currently managing (I always thought that was a bit of a stretch for Arteta, but what the hell) seem to be swapping roles quite a bit. One is flavour of the month (currently Solskjaer), the jury’s out on one (Arteta) and one is a charlatan stealing a living (Lampard). Might it not be the case that they’re all talented but flawed coaches still learning at the top level and the game is more interesting for having the three of them there?”
You haven’t grasped how social media works, have you?
71 min De Bruyne shrieks with pain after a foul from Kovacic, who is booked.
70 min John Stones floors Werner with a fair ball-and-man tackle, and then looks down at him with contempt. What on earth has happened to John Stones? He’s turning into Al Capone.
69 min City break two on two. De Bruyne finds Sterling, who charges past Thiago Silva in the area but is tackled by the last man Zouma.
67 min “Are there any really creative midfields at the moment other than City’s?” says Richard Hirst. “Liverpool and Man Utd largely depend on the quality of their forwards, and their full backs in Liverpool’s case.”
Leicester’s is good – Tielemans can do everything, Ndidi is decent on the ball and Maddison is a hub of creativity. I like Villa’s too, and Leeds of course. That’s a different type of creativity. It also depends on your definition of midfield: are you only counting Nos 6 and 8, or do you include No10 as well? You could argue Bruno Fernandes is a one-man creative midfield.
66 min Mendy dives bravely at the feet of De Bruyne, who was galumphing onto a return pass from Sterling. City’s front three - Foden, De Bruyne and Sterling - have been entirely magnificent. Sergio/Gabriel/Ferran/Riyad Who?!?!?!?!?!
64 min Two changes for City: Billy Gilmoure and Callum Hudson-Odoi replace Hakim Ziyech and N’Golo Kante, who had a harrowing afternoon.
62 min Sterling turns on the halfway line, moves forward and feeds a pass into the unmarked De Bruyne just outside the D. He tries to shape a curler into the far corner but gets far too much on it. That also came after a never-ending City passing move.
61 min Gundogan plays the ball across the area to Bernardo Silva, whose shot is blocked by Chilwell. I think there 20-30 passes in that move.
59 min “For all of Chelsea’s spending, if their midfield is Kante, Kovacic and Mount against Man City, sorry but they are doomed,” says Yash Gupta. “Has their midfield provided any protection and most important of all have they made any passes in central area, I know City have been really good(and they are really terrifying right now), Has Lampard done anything to stop it? I’m not sure.”
As with other young managers, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Mikel Arteta, I don’t think he should really be judged until the end of his second full season. But there are a few worrying signs.
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58 min Good play from Kovacic, who walks through Rodri and slices a left-footed shot wide from 20 yards.
57 min Chelsea are having a lot of the ball. City don’t really mind that; they have been devastating on the break today.
56 min A good cross from Mount on the left bobbles invitingly across the six-yard box. The only player in there was Zinchenko, who watched it out for a goalkick.
55 min “Rob,” says Germán Ott. “I am Uruguayan and would like to tell Rick that penalising Cavani for his tweet was like penalising a British person for ageism for addressing a friend as ‘old man’ or ‘old chap’. Negro, negrito, are often used as terms of endearment in this part of the world – they can be used to offend, too, but this was clearly not the intent here. I am sure that Cavani could not get over the reaction over his – in his view – totally banal greeting to a friend. BTW, the Suárez-Evra incident is different, Suárez meant to rattle Evra, his defence was disingenuous and he was rightly punished.”
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54 min The corner is angled sharply towards Foden, who volleys wide of the near post.
54 min: Good save from Mendy! De Bruyne clips the free-kick to the far post, where Rodri gets away from Ziyech and Mount to thump a header towards goal. Mendy reacts well to dive to his right and push it over the bar.
53 min Sterling beats Kante for the umpteenth time tonight; Kante fouls him and is booked. There’s an intensity and purpose to City’s attacking play that we haven’t seen this season. They have been quite wonderful.
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51 min Chelsea are all over the show. Rodri wins the ball high up the field and City have a four-on-three break. He finds Foden, whose low cross is too far in front of Sterling.
50 min Foden moves into space down the left and picks out De Bruyne in the D. He sweeps a left-footed shot is saved a little awkwardly to his left by Mendy. The worry for Chelsea is that this could get a lot worse.
47 min “This has been a difficult season for the professional pundits and all of us amateur MBM wannabe pundits,” says Mary Waltz. “For the last three years the race for the top has been a choice of two teams and it has been so easy to make early predictions on who will win and who needs to be tossed onto the heap of pundit oblivion. This year every week seems to take last week’s pronouncements and turn them on their head. In other words, we have a glorious multi-team chase that makes all of us look stupid. It’s great.”
It is, but I don’t think it’ll last. This used to be quite common – a free-for-all with unlikely challengers until Christmas, then a sprint to the line from the best two or three teams. Look at this, for example. Villa finished sixth that season, 24 points off the top, and Middlesbrough ended up in ninth.
46 min Peep peep! Chelsea begin the second half.
Half-time reading
Half time: Chelsea 0-3 Man City
After a slow start, Manchester City produced their best performances in at least 18 months to give Chelsea a fearful chasing. Ilkay Gundogan, Phil Foden and the majestic Kevin De Bruyne scored high-class goals, and it could have been more.
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45+2 min A looping header from the off-balance Azpilicueta is easily saved by Steffen. Not since Richie Richardson stood at the non-striker’s end for most of Brian Lara’s 277 at Sydney has a sporting participant had such a good viewing experience.
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45+1 min Pulisic is booked for a lunge at Joao Cancelo.
45 min “Hi Rob,” says Thomas Nolan. “We’ve all heard of no-look passes in football (and you guys have even done a Joy of Six on them) but that Foden goal was a no-look shot and a thing of beauty - the gap he had to sneak it in on the near post was practically non-existent and he had to use the element of surprise to get it past Mendy. It’s so beautiful when footballers improvise like that with just pure instinct. A truly gorgeous goal (and this is coming from a United fan).”
Another thing I liked about Foden’s goal is that he lifted it just enough to beat Mendy’s dive. It might have been by chance, but I’m more convinced than ever that footballers calculate these things in a split-second.
44 min: Sheer delightful football from City! This is pure pleasure. Sterling scurries away from Kante on the halfway line and moves the ball left to De Bruyne. He plays in the overlapping Foden, who crosses low towards Gundogan at the near post. It’s slightly behind him, so Gundogan improvises another flick behind the front leg. This one drifts a few yards wide of the far post. That would have been a(nother) beautiful goal.
41 min “In this intensive season (with only a few weeks pre-season too) hunger appears to be more important than ever,” says Gary Naylor. “A handful of kids really keen to play for Arsenal look a lot better than some teammates with bigger reputations, and I suspect Chelsea could do with some real desire to play in amongst their ranks. I’m not being critical - it’s human nature and there’s mitigation - but just a marginal increase in passivity, physical or mental, and you’re found out.”
Are you suggesting a surprise recall for Chopper Harris?
37 min Almost a fourth goal! Bernardo Silva lifts a long cross to Foden, who mistimes a looping header over a bar. Chelsea are being humiliated. But this is less about them and more about City, who have been staggeringly good in the last 20 minutes.
The third goal came from a Chelsea free-kick. It was headed clear towards the halfway line, where the last man Kante tried to hook the ball back into the City area. It only went as far as De Bruyne, who used his head in more ways than one to nod it firmly back towards the halfway line and put Sterling through on goal. Kante chased after him all the way to the edge of the area, but Sterling just about stayed in front of him and tried to go round Mendy.
Mendy did well to scramble across and stop Sterling from shooting, so Sterling turned back inside to look for support and waited what felt like an age to find the right pass. Nothing was on, so he whipped a shot that clattered off the inside of the far post. It rebounded to De Bruyne, who had made a 70-yard run to back up the play, just in case. He killed an awkward ball perfectly on the stretch and sidefooted it crisply into the net. He is a truly sensational footballer.
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GOAL! Chelsea 0-3 Man City (De Bruyne 34)
Oh my goodness, City are on fire!
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33 min “Hi Rob,” says Rick Harris. “I must say I agree with Tim Walsh that players who break Covid lockdown rules should receive an automatic three-game ban. In my eyes this behaviour is far more serious than Edinson Cavani using a word in a social media post that some non-Latin people find offensive. He appears to have made a genuine mistake whereas the various players caught breaking the rules about people from different households meeting up can’t claim they were ignorant of the rules.”
It does feel pretty arbitrary, I agree. But there are plenty of people who feel what Cavani did was worse. I’m not sure what the answer is, except maybe moving to a digital retreat on the Kerguelen Islands.
32 min If it stays like this, Chelsea will be seven points off the leaders having played a game more.
31 min “There are days when I think United can win the title,” says Digvijay Yadav. “And then I watch City and Liverpool turn it on occasionally. Crikey, what a team City are.”
30 min Zouma makes two blocks in quick succession, one from Bernardo Silva and one from Gundogan. The first was the important one, which came after another one-two, this time between Sterling and De Bruyne down the right. De Bruyne, that miss aside, has been majestic up front.
29 min Werner’s superb return pass to Pulisic prompts a bit of a scramble in the City area. Ziyech (I think) has a shot blocked and the attack peters out.
27 min Another classy move from City. Gundogan feeds the ball into De Bruyne, whose lovely flick finds Foden on the left. He skins Azpilicueta and stands up a deep cross to Joao Cancelo, who takes it down on the chest and hooks the bouncing ball over the bar. It wouldn’t come down for him. “Phil Foden’s turned into Marc Overmars,” says Gary Neville on Sky. “It’s making me shiver.”
26 min Phil Foden muscles Zouma off the ball and is fouled. He’s made one, scored one and is having a blinder.
25 min This is extremely encouraging for City, not least because they are without so many players. In the last 10 minutes they have looked like the City of 2017-19.
24 min “Afternoon Rob,” says Simon McMahon. “A minute’s applause for The Doc seems entirely appropriate given his ebullient nature. A fine player and manager. Talking of which, I heard it suggested about Jim McLean, renowned for signing young players on ridiculously long contracts pre-Bosman, that when fans are eventually able to mark his recent passing in the stadium, there should be a minute’s silence, with an eight-minute option. I think he would have approved.”
Haha, that’s tremendous.
23 min Bernardo Silva’s tame low shot is easily saved by Mendy. Chelsea look like they’re in shock.
De Bruyne started the move with a through ball towards Foden, who made a terrific angled run from the left. Thiago Silva stopped Foden with a good slide tackle on the edge of the area but De Bruyne picked up the loose ball on the left wing and considered his options. He looked up and slid a low cross through the legs of Azpilicueta towards Foden, who clipped a first-time shot past Mendy at the near post.
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GOAL! Chelsea 0-2 Man City (Foden 21)
Another one! City started slowly but in the last five minutes they have played some mesmerising football!
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That was almost all his own work. Zinchenko fizzed the ball into Foden on the edge of the area. He controlled it deftly on the half turn and poked a square pass to Gundogan. Gundogan touched the ball behind his standing leg, away from Thiago Silva, and pirouetted gracefully to rattle a low shot into the far corner. That was a high-class goal, which needed only two touches from Gundogan: one to lose Thiago, one to beat Mendy.
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GOAL! Chelsea 0-1 Man City (Gundogan 18)
City take the lead with a brilliant goal!
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17 min Sterling plays a nice one-two with Joao Cancelo and hits a cross that deflects off a Chelsea defender into the arms of Mendy. Joao Cancelo’s lofted return ball was excellent; he’s playing with som much confidence at the moment.
16 min: De Bruyne misses a great chance! City have done nothing to this point but that was the best chance of the match by far. Sterling played a short pass infield to Cancelo, who put De Bruyne clear of the defence with a gorgeous through ball. De Bruyne took it perfectly in his stride but then slid a low shot wide of the far post from 10 yards. It doesn’t compute that he missed that.
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14 min The more you see that Rodri challenge, the more it looks like a foul. It might have been outside the penalty area, though that was also very tight. I’m surprised VAR only took a cursory look at it.
12 min Kante wins the ball off Rodri, 25 yards from goal, and finds Werner. Rodri almost compounds his error with a clumsy tackle on Werner, right on the line of the penalty area. Werner goes over but Anthony Taylor, in conjunction with VAR, decides it was a fair challenge. It probably was, but he took a big risk.
11 min Chelsea have made the brightest start, with Ziyech looing very confident. He’s played a few loose passes but keeps taking the difficult option.
9 min “Hi there,” says Tim Walsh. “Suspend all players automatically for 3-5 games when they break Covid rules and stop managers justifying appalling behaviour without apology during these very dangerous times as done during today’s interview.”
I was a bit surprised to see Mendy (and Reguilon yesterday) on the bench, but football and principles have always had a complex relationship. It’s harder than ever in an age of cancel culture, social media, PR etc to calculate a fair punishment for anything.
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7 min Rodri has a fresh-air shot after a cutback from De Bruyne. Azpilicueta did enough to put him off. It’s been a lively start to the game.
6 min Mount’s corner is headed on by Werner in front of the near post and headed behind by Ruben Dias. Another corner. Mount swings it deeper and Stones heads away.
6 min Mount rolls the free-kick to Ziyech, whost stinger hits the charging Gundogan and goes behind for the first corner.
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4 min The debutant Zack Steffen has had a minor shocker, picking up a backpass from Rodri. Chelsea have a free-kick on the edge of the area...
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2 min City have started with Foden on the left, Sterling on the right and Kevin De Bruyne as a false nine. Bernardo Silva is playing to the right of centre in a 4-3-3 formation.
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1 min Peep peep! City, in light blue, kick off from left to right. Chelsea are in their usual darker blue.
There’s a minute’s applause before the game in memory of Tommy Docherty, the ebullient former Chelsea manager who died aged 92 on New Year’s Eve.
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Leicester have moved up to third after a 2-1 win at Newcastle. John Brewin has more.
Pre-match reading
Team news
Ederson is out with Covid-19, so the American goalkeeper Zack Steffen will make his Premier League debut for Manchester City. Nathan Ake, Ferran Torres, Aymeric Laporte, Eric Garcia, Kyle Walker, Gabriel Jesus and Tommy Doyle are also missing from the squad. Ake and Laporte are injured; the rest have tested positive for Covid.
The superb Hakim Ziyech returns to the Chelsea team, and Timo Werner gets a start at centre-forward. Olivier Giroud, Callum Hudson-Odoi, Jorginho, Anthony Rudiger and Andreas Christensen, who started the 1-1 draw against Villa last year, are left out.
Chelsea (4-3-3) Mendy; Azpilicueta, Zouma, Thiago, Chilwell; Kovacic, Kante, Mount; Ziyech, Werner, Pulisic.
Substitutes: Kepa, Rudiger, Emerson, Jorginho, Gilmour, Havertz, Abraham, Giroud, Hudson-Odoi.
Manchester City (4-3-3) Steffen; Cancelo, Stones, Dias, Zinchecnko; Bernardo, Rodri, Gundogan; Sterling, De Bruyne, Foden.
Substitutes: Carson, Mendy, Harwood-Bells, Mbete, Fernandinho, Aguero, Mahrez, Delap.
Referee Anthony Taylor.
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Preamble
Birthday Song by Frankie Cosmos, written when she was a teenager, is 68 seconds of classic pop: charming, contemptuous, wise and melancholy. The opening lyric – “Just because I am a certain age/Doesn’t mean that I am any older than I was yesterday” – captures the vague absurdity of the milestones most of us cling onto, and came to mind when thinking about this afternoon’s game between Chelsea and Manchester City at Stamford Bridge.
Sure, it’s 2021 now, but the pains of 2020 haven’t disappeared miraculously into the ether. Covid-19 is still the bane of our existence, and is affecting Premier League clubs more than ever. Manchester City will reportedly be without five players this afternoon, including Kyle Walker and Gabriel Jesus, because of positive Covid tests. We’ll soon find out who the others are.
City’s problems make this a good chance for Chelsea to improve their dismal recent form. They’ve taken just four points from their last five games, though most of their struggled have been away from home. Only Liverpool have taken more points and scored more goals at home this season than Chelsea, though George Graham’s Manchester City will make them work very hard for every chance.
The two teams are level on 26 points, though City have two games in hand so a defeat today wouldn’t kill their title chances. It’s a bigger game for Chelsea because of that, the glacially mounting pressure on Frank Lampard and because they have both home and Covid advantage. It’s not necessarily a must-win, but it’s surely a mustn’t-lose.
Kick off 4.30pm.
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