Chelsea 0-1 Manchester City, Premier League: Post-match reaction, ratings

Playing against Guardiola’s City is often an exercise in patience and discipline, and Chelsea certainly needed a lot of that in the first-half, with City dominating possession but Chelsea able to restrict them to a succession of corners and maybe one chance that Gabriel Jesus didn’t convert.

At the other end, Chelsea certainly had looks on the counter, but our connections were not clean and we also ignored a few opportunities for early crosses with numbers in the box. The one shot we did produce, through Werner, was blocked.

The second half started as more of the same, but then the slice of luck that often decides such games smiled on City, as Jesus shot into a crowd in the second phase of a corner, and saw his deflected shot bounce into the corner of the net.

Chelsea looked to respond, with Tuchel putting on Havertz and switching to a 3-4-3, but we were not able to find the final pass. The one time we did, Havertz was well offside, which ruled out Lukaku’s tap-in.

The change in shape also gave City much more room to operate, and we needed multiple interventions from Mendy as well as a Thiago Silva goalline clearance to stay in the game.

Chelsea kept trying, but could not break City down in the end.

So it goes. Luck on their side today.

Carefree.

• Tuchel rolls with the 3-5-2 from the start, with Lukaku and Werner up top together for the first time
• Kanté-Jorginho-Kova midfield for the first time in a couple years!
• Azpi moving to wing-back after James injury, with Christensen-Silva-Rüdiger across the back
• Change to a 3-4-3 on the hour-mark with Havertz added for Kanté. RLC on for the final 15 to play alongside Kovačić
• First loss of the season. We’re now level on points with City. As are Manchester United, who lost at home to Aston Villa at the same time!
• Next up: Juventus midweek, away
• KTBFFH

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