Bernardo Silva secures easy Manchester City victory over tame Chelsea
For once, it did not really feel necessary to go through all the well-worn superlatives that have accompanied Manchester City on their procession to the title. That is 14 successive home wins now in the Premier League. No team have ever racked up so many passes – 902 – since the league’s inception and Ilkay Gündogan’s total of 174 was another record for the modern era.
Pep Guardiola’s side had won with something to spare and by the time it was all over, with an 18-point gap opening up at the top of the table, it was difficult to remember that it was the players wearing the darker shade of blue who were, in fact, the champions of England.
For City, that honour will be theirs in a few weeks – quite possibly when Manchester United visit here on 7 April – whereas Chelsea should be embarrassed that those kind of record statistics could happen on their watch. They barely laid a glove on the team that, lest it be forgotten, finished 15 points below them last season and it was startling to see their regression, the ultra-defensive tactics employed by Antonio Conte’s side and, more than anything, the sheer lack of gumption at 1-0 to do anything about it. Chelsea are supposed to be a big club with lofty ambitions, but what does it say for the current team that they were the patsies on the day one of their rivals produced an unprecedented show of keep-ball?
The only surprise was Guardiola’s men restricted themselves to Bernardo Silva’s goal 33 seconds into the second half and that, for all the intelligent promptings of Kevin De Bruyne and David Silva and the flowering brilliance of Leroy Sané, they did not make it a more emphatic win. The home side played every sort of pass – 508 in the first half alone – but there were not too many of the killer variety. This was actually the first time in City’s winning run on their own ground that they have not managed at least two goals, but that seldom felt like an issue when their opponents were so vapid.
Pep Guardiola’s side had won with something to spare and by the time it was all over, with an 18-point gap opening up at the top of the table, it was difficult to remember that it was the players wearing the darker shade of blue who were, in fact, the champions of England.
For City, that honour will be theirs in a few weeks – quite possibly when Manchester United visit here on 7 April – whereas Chelsea should be embarrassed that those kind of record statistics could happen on their watch. They barely laid a glove on the team that, lest it be forgotten, finished 15 points below them last season and it was startling to see their regression, the ultra-defensive tactics employed by Antonio Conte’s side and, more than anything, the sheer lack of gumption at 1-0 to do anything about it. Chelsea are supposed to be a big club with lofty ambitions, but what does it say for the current team that they were the patsies on the day one of their rivals produced an unprecedented show of keep-ball?
The only surprise was Guardiola’s men restricted themselves to Bernardo Silva’s goal 33 seconds into the second half and that, for all the intelligent promptings of Kevin De Bruyne and David Silva and the flowering brilliance of Leroy Sané, they did not make it a more emphatic win. The home side played every sort of pass – 508 in the first half alone – but there were not too many of the killer variety. This was actually the first time in City’s winning run on their own ground that they have not managed at least two goals, but that seldom felt like an issue when their opponents were so vapid.
Source: theguardian
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