Manchester City has taken the measure of Chelsea this season. Pep Guardiola’s team have beaten the blues in the last three matches, first in the League Cup, a few days ago in the Premier and this Sunday with a win in the third round of the FA Cup. Julián Álvarez’s goals , Foden and Mahrez, twice, classified the skyblues and eliminated the Londoners at the Etihad Stadium.
The script was as expected for the locals, who had the game under control at all times. They met with no opposition from Graham Potter’s wards. The very advanced pressure was the initial weapon used by the Manchester team to dismast a visiting team that waved the white flag too soon, a shadow of that team led by Tuchel that won the Champions League final in 2021 against the cityzens.
The blues had not crossed the midfield when City had already prowled the goal defended by Kepa on two occasions. In the first attempt, Mahrez got rid of the young Hall, whom he drove crazy throughout the game, but the Algerian found no finisher in the area. Even clearer was Palmer’s chance. With everything in his favour, after a great long pass from Laporte, the cityzen youth squad sent it to the side of the net. Meanwhile, Julián Álvarez was screaming, alone inside the area to finish off an empty goal.
The first goal for the locals was a matter of time and Mahrez took exactly 23 minutes to open the goal. The Algerian was run over roughly on the edge of the area by Hall, who immediately paid for the hazing. Mahrez honed his exquisite left foot and put the ball in the top corner with a shot that perfectly combined power and placement. The perfect foul.
As if that were not enough with the football arguments, Havertz was in charge of giving extra help to the skyblue roller. The German gave away an absurd penalty with a very clear hand with which he avoided Laporte’s header. Through VAR, the referee signaled the eleven meters, from where the world champion Julián Álvarez scored the second goal with a tight shot to his left that Kepa touched.
Barely ten minutes later came the icing on the cake to City’s excellent first half, a third goal that will surely fill Guardiola with pride. It was a total play of combination, precision and mobility that began with an exquisite dribble from Kyle Walker in his own half, again with Hall as the victim. In a possession in which ten players intervened and 13 passes were given, the ball moving around the entire field, the speedy right-back ended up giving the assist to a goal to a Foden who did not miss in the small area.
With the job done, City limited themselves in the second half to controlling any hint of revolution from a Chelsea that slightly improved its performance, a particularly easy task after the initial 45 minutes, but was far from the goal. The numerous casualties for those from Stamford Bridge, the latest being Sterling and Pulisic, are not enough of an excuse for the dismal performance of the team, which made the first attempt on goal in the 73rd minute with a deflected shot and without any danger from Hutchinson.
With Chelsea inoperative, City, without key players such as Haaland and De Bruyne, came close to the fourth goal on a shot with Mahrez’s trademark thread that licked the post. The African retaliated later and signed his goal double by sending the squad a penalty committed by Koulibaly to Foden. It was the signature of an excellent match by Guardiola’s players and a very deficient one from a Chelsea that for the third game in a row was left without scoring against Manchester.
Manchester City: Ortega; Walker, Akanji, Laporte, Gomez (Cancel, m.58); Silva (Lewis, m.86), Rodri (Phillips, m.58), Palmer; Mahrez, Alvarez and Foden.
Chelsea: Cape; Humphreys, Koulibaly, Chalobah, Hall; Kovacic (Brown, m.46), Jorginho (Azpilicueta, m.63), Mount (Chukwemeka, m.73); Ziyech (Hutchinson, m.63), Havertz (Zechariah, m.46) and Gallagher.
Goals: 1-0, m.23: Mahrez. 2-0, m.30: Álvarez, from a penalty. 3-0, m.38: Foden. 4-0, m.85: Mahrez.
Referee: Robert Jones. He admonished Rodri (m.54), Silva (m.70) and Cancelo (m.87) from Manchester City, and Gallagher (m.62), from Chelsea.
Incidents: Match corresponding to the third round of the FA Cup played at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester.
