Premier League: Chelsea in crisis after being hit for six by Man City

Manchester City 6 Chelsea 0

Manchester City returned to the top of the Premier League table yesterday after a 6-0 drubbing of Chelsea at the Etihad Stadium.

It was a blistering display from the Sky Blues, and a warning to Liverpool who had leapfrogged them into first on Saturday after their 3-0 defeat of Bournemouth.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

The Reds still have a game in hand on their rivals but the goal difference is now up to ten, hence the reason why City are sitting pretty this morning.

As for Chelsea, the humiliation sees them drop below Arsenal into sixth because of their inferior goal difference, and it will only increase the pressure on manager Maurizio Sarri.

Frankly, given Roman Abramovich’s track record of hiring and firing, it would be a surprise if he’s still at Stamford Bridge at the end of the month.

Sarri showed the strain at the final whistle, walking straight down the tunnel and ignoring Pep Guardiola’s outstretched hand.

Amazing Aguero

City overwhelmed Chelsea in the first 25 minutes in a scintillating display of football. One up after just four minutes when Raheem Sterling beat Kepa Arrizabalaga, Aguero got his first with a long-range drive on 13 minutes. His second came shortly after and Ilkay Gundogan made it 4-0 on 25 minutes.

Aguero completed his hat-trick from the penalty spot ten minutes into the second period, and in the process became City’s leading league goal scorer with 160 (overtaking Eric Brook’s tally of 158). Aguero also equalled Alan Shearer’s record of 11 Premier League hat-tricks.

Sterling smashed home the sixth ten minutes from time on a day when Chelsea’s shortcomings were brutally exposed. It was their heaviest defeat in any competition since losing 7-0 to Nottingham Forest in April 1991, and they are now ten points behind third-place Tottenham.

Pep talk

Even City manager Guardiola was shocked by the scale of the victory.

He said: “Incredible week, incredible game. We spoke this morning, we trained set pieces, trained some movements and I never thought we would score this amount of goals.

“To score six against Chelsea and the way we played, we had so much attention. We did it, it’s an incredible compliment to the players, they are outstanding.”

What they said about Man City’s slaughter of Chelsea

Chelsea defender Cesar Azpilicueta: “It is one of the worst nights in my career. All I can do is apologise to the fans because it is not acceptable.”

Chelsea manager Maurizio Sarri: “My job is always at risk. If [Roman] Abramovich calls me I will be happy. I never really speak to him so I’d be happy to speak to him.”

Man City hat-trick hero Sergio Aguero: “I have to continue the same way and the important thing is to win. The important thing is to score the next one.”

Man City forward Raheem Sterling: “It was a terrific performance from the team. It took a lot of preparation. We stuck to the plan and it worked well.”

Spurs on track

In yesterday’s lunchtime kick-off Tottenham beat Leicester City 3-1 to remain third and keep within sight of Man City and Liverpool.

Five points behind the top two, Spurs kept their nerve against the Foxes at Wembley with goals from Davinson Sanchez, Christian Eriksen and Son Heung-min.

Jamie Vardy scored for the visitors late on but it couldn’t deny Spurs a fourth consecutive league win, one that put a smile on the face of Mauricio Pochettino.

“I feel very proud - again a fantastic spirit, a fantastic result,” said the Tottenham manager. “It was tough, Leicester played so well.

“If you want to fight for big things, you have to be a little lucky - and luck was one our side. But we deserved it because we fought hard, and I need to congratulate my players. Their effort was fantastic.”

Premier League results and fixtures

Weekend results

• Fulham 0 Manchester United 3
• Crystal Palace 1 West Ham United 1
• Huddersfield Town 1 Arsenal 2
• Liverpool 3 AFC Bournemouth 0
• Southampton 1 Cardiff City 2
• Watford 1 Everton 0
• Brighton & Hove Albion 1 Burnley 3
• Tottenham Hotspur 3 Leicester City 1
• Manchester City 6 Chelsea 0

Tonight’s fixture

• Wolverhampton Wanderers vs. Newcastle United (8pm, live on Sky Sports)