Chelsea 1-3 Manchester City, Premier League: Post-match reaction, ratings

Well, the first 12 minutes were good.

Then Chelsea won a penalty, which was inexplicably — or not so inexplicably, given the standard of refereeing (with or without the aid of video replays) in the Premier League — not given, and from there, Chelsea absolutely fell apart.

City scored twice in two minutes before minute 20, ripping Chelsea to pieces, and added a third before half from a most hilarious counter-attack that was caused by N’Golo Kanté’s poor pass. When not even Kanté’s playing well, you know you’re in for a bad day — his yellow card also means that he will miss our next Premier League game, too.

The second half was better only because we didn’t concede again, and created maybe one good chance? And Hudson-Odoi got a nice consolation goal at the end, from Mason Mount’s Kai Havertz’s great cross.

Carefree.

• Starting lineup almost exactly as preferred, with a supposedly fit Ziyech instead of Hudson-Odoi the only difference in Lampard’s selection.
• Hudson-Odoi on just after the hour, for Ziyech; Gilmour for Kanté as well. Havertz for Kovačić the final change for the final 15 minutes, staying with the 4-3-3 throughout.
• Chelsea concede 3 at home in the Premier League for just the second time ever. The other was the 3-1 against Burnley at the start of 2017-18, though this time we only played as if we were a man or two down.
• Chelsea down to seventh at the moment, but might as well be tenth or lower.
• 2021 sucks. Can we go back to 2020?
• Next up: Morecambe FC in the FA Cup next Sunday, assuming it goes ahead. Fulham away the Friday after that, assuming it goes ahead.
• KTBFFH

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