Manchester City earn crucial three points against Chelsea thanks to Riyad Mahrez

Riyad Mahrez celebrates after scoring for Manchester City against Chelsea

PREMIER LEAGUE Manchester City earn crucial three points against Chelsea thanks to Riyad Mahrez

Ifeanyi Ufomadu 22:59 - 05.01.2023

Riyad Mahrez applied the finishing touch to lead Man City to a 1-0 win against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge

A superior second-half display saw Manchester City edge Chelsea 1-0 at Stamford Bridge, as the hosts succumbed to a third straight defeat to City.

Chelsea vs Manchester City team news

Graham Potter made two changes to the Chelsea side that drew at Nottingham Forest on Sunday. The more mobile Mateo Kovacic replaced Jorginho in midfield, and Hakim Ziyech came in for Mason Mount, who suffered a knock in training.

Pep Guardiola named a more familiar team for Man City with Kyle Walker, Joao Cancelo, Ilkay Gundogan and Phil Foden replacing Rico Lewis, Manuel Akanji, Riyad Mahrez and Jack Grealish.

Chelsea vs Manchester City lineups

Chelsea: Kepa; Azpilicueta, Koulibaly, Thiago Silva, Cucurella; Zakaria, Kovacic; Ziyech, Pulisic; Havertz, Sterling.

Manchester City: Ederson; Walker, Stones, Ake, Cancelo; Rodri; De Bruyne, Gundogan; Bernardo, Haaland, Foden.

Chelsea vs Manchester City first half

City settled quickly and dominated the early possession, but opportunities were hard to create against a well-organised Chelsea defence.

The home side carved out the first decent opening of the game in the 15th minute when Christian Pulisic tried to break beyond the City back line but was denied by an excellent tackle from John Stones.

John Stones executed a perfect block to deny Christian Pulisic
John Stones executed a perfect block to deny Christian Pulisic

Pulisic was injured in the challenge and he became the second Chelsea forward forced off through injury after Raheem Sterling was replaced inside five minutes.

Erling Haaland finally got into the game towards the end of the first half as he raced onto a Gundogan through-ball, an exquisite first touch gave him a sight of goal but he fired a powerful strike just over the bar.

Chelsea vs Manchester City second half

Pep Guardiola made a double change during the break, Rico Lewis and Manuel Akanji replaced Cancelo and Walker. 

City were quick out of the blocks and almost found an opener in the 50th minute when a deep cross from De Bruyne picked out Ake, but his header came back off the post.

Riyad Mahrez goal

Guardiola then made another two changes with Mahrez and Grealish and just over two minutes later they combined for the opening goal.

Riyad Mahrez scores the only goal of the game for Manchester City against Chelsea
Riyad Mahrez scores the only goal of the game for Manchester City against Chelsea

A move started by Ederson ended with Grealish running onto a De Bruyne pass and threading a perfect pass for Mahrez to finish at the far post.

Man City players celebrate with Riyad Mahrez after he scores against Chelsea
Man City players celebrate with Riyad Mahrez after he scores against Chelsea

Chelsea pushed men forward and took more risks to try to grab an equaliser but Man City held on for a crucial win.

var widgetLoaderConfig = widgetLoaderConfig || { CDN_URL: 'https://widgets.sportal365.com', APP_LINK: 'desktop', API_URL: 'https://africa.football.api.sportal365.com/', API_KEY: '2f852b4de2f3a5cf3188e74b33087bb4:2c18422f8e826a7d11aeed52edb2449e', LANG: 'en', REQUEST_INTERVAL: 30, ENABLE_BET_SLIP: false, AUTHOR: false, THEME: "light", TOURNAMENT_ORDER: "pulse_nigeria", LINK_OPTIONS_V2: { 'player' : { 'url': '/football/player/{playerId}' }, 'team' : { 'url': '/football/{teamId}' }, 'tournament': { 'url': '/football/competition/{tournamentId}' }, 'match': { 'url' : '/football/match/{matchId}', 'sort': { 'criteria': 'alphabetically', 'direction': 'asc' } }, 'configuration': { 'newWindow': false }, 'standings_tournament': { 'url': '/football/competition/{tournamentId}/standings' } } }; if (!document.querySelector('script[src="https://widgets.sportal365.com/loader.bundle.min.js"]')) { window.setTimeout(function () { let scriptCss = document.createElement('link'); scriptCss.href = 'https://www.pulsesports.co.ke/css/sport-widgets.css?v=1668785443'; scriptCss.rel = 'stylesheet'; scriptCss.type = 'text/css'; document.body.appendChild(scriptCss); let scriptTag = document.createElement('script'); scriptTag.src = 'https://widgets.sportal365.com/loader.bundle.min.js'; scriptTag.defer = true; scriptTag.onload = function () { window.setTimeout(function () { new SMPWidgetsLoader(widgetLoaderConfig); }, 200); }; document.head.appendChild(scriptTag); }, 0); } else { new SMPWidgetsLoader(widgetLoaderConfig); }