London: Manchester City celebrated an emphatic 3-1 over Chelsea in the Premier League on Sunday with goals from Ilkay Gundogan, Phil Foden and Kevin De Bruyne. The only goal for Chelsea was scored late by Callum Hudson-Odoi.
City’s squad faced issues after six of their players went unavailable due to positive COVID-19 tests. Pep Guardiola trusted American goalkeeper Zack Steffen and gave him his first Premier League start.
Steffen’s start to the Premier League was rocky as he picked up a backpass from Rodri just four minutes into the game. However, the resulting free-kick was disastrously taken by Chelsea from outside the box and was deflected away.
Oleksandr Zinchenko started from the left-wing and gave the ball to Foden on the edge of the box who led the ball on to Gundogan. The midfielder then let the ball slide through his legs as he turned and launched it into the net past Edouard Mendy on 18 minutes.
Three minutes later Foden scored a goal of his own from a De Bruyne assist from the left. The England international was waiting at the near post and netted it on 21 minutes.
City’s third came from De Bruyne on 34 minutes when Raheem Sterling galloped through Chelsea’s half. Sterling was the only City player in the box, with no support he saw his tight shot from the left rebound off the crossbar. De Bruyne picked up the loose ball and struck it into the net.
The only goal for Chelsea came on 92 minutes when Odoi scored but it wasn’t enough to pacify for the wound. With this loss, Chelsea have managed to take just four points from their last six games and City moved three points ahead of them to fifth in the table, but with two games in hand.
