City overthrow Chelsea Blues

Three days after the defeat in Paris in the UEFA Champions League, City has the opportunity to relaunch in the league against a direct competitor in the race for Europe: Chelsea.

Arriving this week, Khusanov and Marmoush are thrown into the deep end by Pep Guardiola, while Vitor Reis is on the bench.

Chelsea will nevertheless quickly dampen the enthusiasm of the Etihad Stadium after just two minutes of play. Nicolas Jackson takes advantage of a poorly adjusted back pass from the young Khusanov to serve Madueke, who only has to conclude with the empty goal. (0-1, 2^th)

The Cityzens are feverish and Chelsea are close to the break.

Fortunately, Khusanov made up for his mistake at the start of the game and prevented Sancho’s shot from the penalty spot from heading towards the frame. (9^th)

Foden immediately sounds a revolt. His powerful shot from outside the area hit the left post of Robert Sánchez, beaten. (10^th)

The match is unbridled and the Skyblues are gaining confidence, under the leadership of a very prominent offensive Josko Gvardiol.

First, the Croatian inherits a ball in the area, hooks his opponent and shoots hard over the Chelsea goal. (25^th)

Then, launched in depth like an attacker, the Croatian defender presents himself alone against Sánchez. His outside left foot at the end of the run brushes against the upright. (40^th)

The third attempt is the right one: Nunes is found behind the Chelsea defense and resists Cucurella’s return. Sánchez comes out in front of the Portuguese and manages to push the ball away which arrives at the feet of Gvardiol, who did not ask for so much. Josko, who celebrated his 23rd^th birthday last Thursday, equalize in the empty goal! (1-1, 42^th)

The Skyblues return to the locker room with a deserved equalizer.

At the start of the second period, Haaland quickly stands out but Sánchez is vigilant on the Norwegian’s first shot. (51^th)

Marmoush, on good legs, tries his luck at the edge of the area but his shot escapes the Blues’ target. (66^th)

The Cityzens push to take the advantage in this pleasant match and, following a long clearance from Ederson, Erling Haaland resists Chalobah’s return and takes advantage of the Spanish goalkeeper’s hesitant exit to lob it with a nice curler from the left. (2-1, 68^th)

Chelsea push to equalize but the Cityzens are vigilant and are not put in danger.

On the contrary, it is Pep Guardiola’s men who appear sharper at the end of the match, like Haaland, who plays Colwill in the central circle before serving Phil Foden on a plate. Alone facing the goalkeeper, number 47 does not tremble and scores the winning goal for City! (3-1, 87^th)

This nice success against a direct competitor allows us to move up to fourth place in the standings, tied with Newcastle (41 points) but our goal difference is better than that of the Magpies.

City will return to the Etihad Stadium next Wednesday, with a final decisive match for qualification against Club Brugge in the UEFA Champions League.

THE TEAMS

CITY XI : Ederson, Nunes, Khusanov (Stones 53), Akanji, Gvardiol, Kovacic, Gundogan, Bernardo (C), Marmoush (De Bruyne 74), Foden, Haaland

Unused substitutes: Ortega, Grealish, Reis, Savio, O’Reilly, Lewis, McAtee

CHELSEA XI : Sanchez, James (c) (Gusto 74), Colwill, Chalobah, Cucurella, Fernandez, Caicedo, Palmer, Madueke, Sancho (Neto 74), Jackson (Nkunku 61)

Unused substitutes: Jorgensen, Disasi, Tosin, Neto, Dewsbury-Hall, Acheampong, Guiu