▲ Gabriel Jejus Manchester City’s Jejus celebrate after scoring the opening goal against Chelsea. ⓒ Manchester City Twitter capture
‘Premier League champion’ Manchester City (Man City) defeated ‘European champion’ Chelsea, avenging the defeat four months ago.
Manchester City defeated Chelsea 1-0 in the 6th round of the 2021-22 English Premier League at Stamford Bridge in London, England on the 25th (Korean time).
With this, Manchester City moved up to 2nd place in the league with a record of 4 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss (13 points). Chelsea (13 points), who suffered their first defeat of the season, moved down to third place, one goal behind Manchester City in goal difference.
Manchester City, too strong, cut 3 consecutive defeats against Chelsea with the winning goal from Jejus
Home team Chelsea used a 3-5-2 formation. With Romelu Lukaku and Timo Werner leading the way, the midfield was dominated by Matteo Kovacic, Jorginho and N’Golo Kante. The left and right wing-backs consisted of Marcos Alonso and Rhys James, while the three-backs consisted of Antonio Rudiger, Andreas Christensen, and Cesar Aspilicueta. The goal was kept by Edouard Mendy.
The away team Man City faced 4-3-3. The front was made up of Jack Grealish, Phil Foden, and Gabriel Jejus, and the midfield was Bernardo Silva, Rodry and Kevin De Bruyne. The back was Joao Cancelou, Aymeric Laporte, Hubin Dias and Kyle Walker, and the goalkeeper was Ederson.
Manchester City used intense forward pressure early in the game to block Chelsea’s build-up. Chelsea showed the intention of moving forward with a fine short pass from the rear, but struggled mostly by giving away possession to Manchester City.
After thickening the defense, Chelsea faced Manchester City with a counterattack using the fast two-top Lukaku-Werner line. However, there were not many counterattack scenes. On the other hand, Manchester City also failed to produce a sharp attacking scene despite their high possession of the ball.
In the 28th minute of the first half, Chelsea were inevitably replaced by Thiago Silva due to an injury to right wing-back James. The first half ended without a goal after a tedious battle.
It was Manchester City who broke Young’s balance. In the 8th minute of the second half, Cancelo’s mid-range shot fell to Jejus’ foot. After creating space, the ball, which he attempted to turn, hit Jorginho’s foot, deflected and went into the goal.
In response, Chelsea replaced Kante with Kai Havertz, who has excellent attacking power, to strengthen the attack. Manchester City continued to aim for additional goals. In the 16th minute of the second half, Cancelo’s cross went sideways with a punch from goalkeeper Mendy. After receiving the ball, Jejus fired a powerful shot, but it was blocked by Thiago Silva, who stood in front of the goal line.
Chelsea switched to an all-out offensive by replacing Jorginho with Ruben Loftusczyk. Manchester City did not give in and maintained the stance of forward pressure. Manchester City, who put in Marez, Sterling and Fernandinho to try to balance the players’ stamina, eventually took the lead by one goal.
Guardiola, who has stopped losing 4 in a row, wins Tuchel in battle for resourcefulness
Chelsea have achieved remarkable growth since coach Thomas Tuchel in the second half of last season. The most notable achievement is, of course, the UEFA Champions League win. At the time, Chelsea won 1-0 in the final against Manchester City and lifted their second big year in their career. It was a disappointment for Manchester City, who tried to win the Champions League for the first time in their history.
Chelsea’s momentum continued to rise at the beginning of the season. With Lukaku’s addition, he not only eliminated the absence of a striker, but also ran undefeated with a strong defensive organization capable of conceding only one goal in five league games. In the last 5 rounds of the league, he showed the side of a ‘European champion’ without regret, such as a 3-0 win over Tottenham Hotspur.
This match against Manchester City was a match for Chelsea’s chances of winning the Premier League. In particular, after taking over as Chelsea manager, Tuchel has won three matches against Manchester City’s Pep Guardiola. Manager Guardiola, who has never lost four consecutive defeats against a specific team, could have suffered the worst disgrace if he lost even this time against Chelsea.
Again, Guardiola wasn’t going to be hit four times. He did not repeat the mistake of using Gundogan as a defensive midfielder in the last Champions League final. This time, he placed the professional defensive midfielder Rodry right in front of the four-back line to thoroughly prepare for Chelsea’s counterattack. And the weight of forward pressure has been greatly increased. Manchester City, who had full control of the waist, aimed for a small gap in Chelsea with their characteristic high possession and passing game.
Manchester City, who continued to beat, finally took the lead with a goal from Jejus in the 8th minute of the second half. Chelsea’s scenario of trying to catch Manchester City on a back-office attack has been shattered. Manchester City did not slow down the intensity of the pressure until just before the end of the match, neutralizing Chelsea’s attack.
On that day, City led by 15-5 in possession of 60% and number of shots. Above all, the allowed number of effective shots was 0. It was a complete victory without any doubt. Having avenged their defeat four months ago, City have once again proven their qualifications to lift the Premier League title three times in the past four years.
As manager Guardiola added a victory that day, he recorded 221 wins in Manchester City’s career, breaking the record held by Ness McDowell, who managed Manchester City in the 1950s and 1960s.
2021-22 English Premier League Round 6
(Stamford Bridge, London, UK – 25 September 2021)
Chelsea 0
Man City 1 – Jesus 53′
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