Premier League - Manchester City 6 Chelsea 0 -Match Report
Sergio Aguero hits a hat-trick as Manchester City return to the top of the table following 6-0 thrashing of Chelsea
Sergio Aguero equalled the record for Premier League hat-tricks as a rampant Manchester City thrashed Chelsea 6-0 at home to leapfrog Liverpool and return to the table's summit.
Chelsea were hammered 4-0 at Bournemouth in their last away league match and Maurizio Sarri's side were taken apart by the defending champions at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday, the Blues suffering their heaviest ever Premier League loss.
Raheem Sterling struck in the fourth minute and Ilkay Gundogan rapidly made it four after Aguero's first-half double, with Chelsea unable to muster any response in the face of City's incredible intensity.
Aguero, who also hit a treble in City's last home league game against Arsenal, stroked home a penalty after the break to join Alan Shearer on 11 Premier League hat-tricks and Sterling struck late to complete the scoring.
Pep Guardiola's side move above Liverpool on goal difference, with the Catalan coach enjoying a crushing victory against a side he has lost to on a record three league occasions.
City made a blistering start and led 4-0 inside 25 minutes, with Aguero on target twice.
Sterling opened the scoring with a thumping drive after Bernardo Silva's cross deflected into his path, then Aguero somehow missed an open goal from three yards out.
Aguero soon made amends with a thunderous 25-yard drive after great work from Oleksandr Zinchenko and he then capitalised on Ross Barkley's abysmal header to become City's record league goalscorer.
City's fourth came from Gundogan, his placed 20-yard shot beating Kepa Arrizabalaga, with Ederson brilliantly tipping over Gonzalo Higuain's volley at the other end before the break.
Aguero's header from Kevin De Bruyne's cross crashed against the crossbar but the Argentina attacker was able to celebrate his historic treble in the 56th minute.
Sterling's pace and skill drew a clumsy Cesar Azpilicueta foul inside the box and Aguero beat Kepa once more with an excellent penalty.
Guardiola was able to rest City's hat-trick hero, De Bruyne and Fernandinho for the closing stages and Sterling tapped in a cross from the lively Zinchenko for a simple sixth.
Mitch Freeley
Live Updates!
So there we have it! Manchester City return to the top of the table following a thrashing of Chelsea! Sergio Aguero grabbed a hat-trick as the Citizens blitzed the Blues in impressive style. Match report to follow, still before let's take a moment to appreciate Mike Dean. What a man!
The GOAT. pic.twitter.com/7aJH4ES99P — Andy Ha (@AndyHa_) February 10, 2019
Second Half
90- Three minutes of stoppage time, Chelsea just want this over. It's not been the Blues day. I wonder what will happen to Maurizio Sarri?
89- No surprises here, Sergio Aguero has been named as man of the match.
88- Sterling plays through Zinchenko as City look for a seventh! Rudiger is on hand to deny the Ukranian defender.
86 - Just imagine for Chelsea, they have to play City in two weeks in the EFL Cup final.
79- Goal! Six! Six! Six! Sterling has his second goal of the day! A textbook City goal, Zinchenko drills the ball across the box, David Silva tries to flick it on but Sterling is on hand to fire it home! Man City have been relentless!
76- Final sub for City. David Silva on for Fernandinho.
73- Chance! Raheem Sterling turns on the afterburners and speeds into the half, a pass to Gabriel Jesus who is in on goal. The Brazilian's shot is saved by the boot of Kepa!
72- Chelsea Sub - it's all over for Marcus Alonso. Emerson is on for the wing-back.
69- Mahrez digs out a shot from the right wing, the ball flies over for a goal-kick.
67- The excellent Kevin De Bruyne makes way for Riyad Mahrez. He's pulled the strings in midfield for City today.
66- Serigo Aguero in quite good at football shocker!
⚽⚽⚽ Not only has @aguerosergiokun tied @alanshearer's #PL record of 11 hat-tricks, it took him 212 games less!!!#beINPL #MCICHE #ManCity 📺 HD11
Watch 👉 https://t.co/UV964MFlW0 pic.twitter.com/kT45g5Dbnr — beIN SPORTS (@beINSPORTS) February 10, 2019
63- Up the other end and Hazard smashes a shot into the side netting from a tight angle. In other news, Sergio Aguero is subbed for Gabriel Jesus to a standing ovation from the City faithful!
62- City stream forward again, they have been relentless today! De Bruyne digs out a shot from distance. Rudiger blocks it off and Chelsea survive (for now)
58 - Chance! De Bruyne curls his free-kick towards goal! Kepa is equal to it, and pushes the ball away!
55- Goal! Who else but Sergio Aguero slots away the penalty! A hat-trick for the Argentinian! Too easy this for Peps men!
54- Penalty Manchester City! Raheem Sterling is downed by Azpilicueta! Mike Dean points to the spot!
51- Chelsea Sub! Ross Barkley is pulled and Kovacic is on for the Blues.
49 - Chance! De Bruyne picks out Aguero who smashes his header against the crossbar! It could have been 5-0 there!
The Chelsea players aren't listening to Sarri - is he on borrowed time at Stamford Bridge?#beINPL #MCICHE 📺 HD11
Watch 👉 https://t.co/UV964MFlW0 pic.twitter.com/IJRhvYUJje — beIN SPORTS (@beINSPORTS) February 10, 2019
48 - So are we witnessing a Chelsea mutiny in action? The Blues need something special, and they don't seem to be offering much at the minute.
Peep! Mike Dean gets us back underway! Can Chelsea produce a heroic comeback? Somehow I doubt it...
First Half
Perfectionists...
Half-time, 4-0 up and Pep Guardiola is still unhappy!#beINPL #MCICHE 📺 HD11https://t.co/5vw3ltGoUQ pic.twitter.com/FAnxJlZbKo — beIN SPORTS (@beINSPORTS) February 10, 2019
45- Peep! Half time! City are 4-0 up and cruising! Join me in 15 for more fun and games!
45- Chance! De Bruyne curls in a cross and Aguero is primed for a diving header, the delivery is just too long!
45- Two minutes of extra-time. Chelsea will be wanting this half to end ASAP. A huge team-talk for Sarri at half-time!
44- Chelsea has had 84% possession in the last five minutes! They have pressed well in the second half of the first 45... just ignore they conceded four goals earlier!
41- Chelsea needs to get something, anything if they are going to make the second half anyway competitive. Hazard wins a dangerous free-kick following a foul by Bernardo Silva. The resulting dead ball is easily cleared. Back to the drawing board for the Blues.
37- Chance! Higuain smashes a volley from range, it's dipping into the goal but Ederson palms the ball over for a corner! Great technique from the number nine!
36- Amazingly Manchester City has only had five shots so far! four have been goals and that unexplainable miss from Aguero!
33- Azpilicueta picks out Pedro with a dangerous ball into the penalty area, the Spaniard keeps his head down and evades two City challenges but he's eventually hounded out of the box. He just needed to look up and make a pass! Poor from Chelsea.
30- Predictably Chelsea are seeing plenty of the ball now after conceding four goals in 25 minutes!
27 - Chance for Chelsea, Hazard finds Pedro on the right wing but the shot from the Spaniard is easily gathered by Ederson.
24- GOAL! 4-0! City are flying! Rudiger blocks Aguero's shot which falls to Gundogan, the German midfielder composes himself and curls the ball into the bottom left corner from outside the area! UNBELIEVABLE !
22- Chelsea have been blitzed in the first half! Unbelivable stuff! Higuain looks very lonely upfront, the striker is tackled by De Bruyn and is greeted with cheers by the City fans!
18- Goal! Game over! City go 3-0 up thanks to a horrendous error from Ross Barkley! The Blues midfielder heads back to goal and Aguero latches onto the ball and half volleys it into the net! One to forget for the England midfielder!
17- Mike Dean watch! David Luiz bundles down Aguero, no yellow for the Blues defender!
12- Goal! WHAT. A. GOAL! Sergio Aguero with a pearler from 25 yards, he may have missed from 2 yards a few minutes ago, but that is special from the Argentine striker! Right into the top corner! Goal 158 in the league for Manchester City!
11- Brilliant close control from Hazard who beats three players as the Belgian serges into the penalty box, but his tame shot is saved by Ederson!
7- What a miss! City are on the rampage! Bernardo Silva drills the ball across the box, Aguero is primed to score at the back post from close range. Somehow, the Argentine striker misses the easiest of chances! It was an open goal! Pep does not look pleased, and Aguero wants the ground to swallow him up! It should be 2-0!
6- Aguero brakes down the right wing, Man City really look in the mood here! N'golo Kante comes in with a firm challenge and Chelsea break up the pitch, unfortunately, Higuain's through ball to Pedro is offside.
3- Goal! Manchester City take the lead! What nervy start!? Bernardo Silva has acres of space on the left wing, drills the ball across the box and Raheem Sterling smashes a shot past Kepa from the right hand side. That was all too easy and Man City go 1-0 up!
1 - Hazard scampers down the left wing and picks out Higuain, Kyle Walker eventually hacks the ball away a nervy start from Manchester City.
Peep! Mike Dean peeps away! Sergio Aguero gets us underway!
Right! The players are wandering out and undergoing the usual handshakes before the game! Not long to go!
Preamble
Matt Critchley confirms that team news! We are five minutes away from kick-off!
Team News is in!
- David Silva OUT for Manchester City
- Higuaín STARTS for Chelsea#beINPL #MCICHE 📺 HD11 pic.twitter.com/ZqTrPCrh2I — beIN SPORTS (@beINSPORTS) February 10, 2019
Lot's of pressure on Gonzalo Higuain today! Can the Argentine striker deliver when it matters in his first top six game for the Blues?
🔥 @G_Higuain #MCICHE pic.twitter.com/XC6CCTwAXc — Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) February 10, 2019
Cool, Calm and collected from the Citizens when they made their way into the stadium! Can Peps boys get the better of Chelsea today?
C'monnnnnnn! 💪#MCICHE 🔵 #mancity pic.twitter.com/WkBWBwrsRj — Manchester City (@ManCity) February 10, 2019
Warm up time for Chelsea! We are 15 minutes or so away from Kick-off!
Warm-ups very much needed, it's a chilly afternoon in Manchester today! ❄️#MCICHE pic.twitter.com/HxGjiY3FFf — Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) February 10, 2019
Now for Chelsea! Two changes! Rudiger is in for Andreas Christensen in central defence. Whilst Pedro comes in for Wilian. Gonzalo Higuain leads the line for the Blues!
The team news is in! 📝
Here's how we line up this afternoon... 👇#MCICHE pic.twitter.com/Lihxd4hSIQ — Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) February 10, 2019
Team News! First up Manchester City! Three changes from the side that defeated Everton midweek. As expected, Kevin De Bruyne & Raheem Sterling start replacing David Silva & Leroy Sane in the side. Aleksandr Zinchenko comes in for Nicolas Otamendi.
Your #mancity line-up to take on Chelsea! 🙌
XI | Ederson, Walker, Stones, Laporte, Zinchenko, Fernandinho (C), Gundogan, De Bruyne, Sterling, Bernardo, Aguero
SUBS | Muric, Danilo, Sané, Silva, Mahrez, Otamendi, Jesus@HaysWorldwide ⚽️ #MCICHE pic.twitter.com/oyaHfKTuRc — Manchester City (@ManCity) February 10, 2019
Chelsea look focused heading into the game! Can the Blues do the double over City?
Arriving in the zone. 💪#MCICHE pic.twitter.com/vJp7vAwHCf — Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) February 10, 2019
It's a huge game in the course of the Premier League title race! So why have some of the pre-match build-up been dominated by referee Mike Dean? Matt Critchley has more!
Keep your eye on Mike Dean tonight... he needs one more red for his 100th in the #PL!#beINPL #MCICHE 📺 HD11 pic.twitter.com/nIqrg6tvlv — beIN SPORTS (@beINSPORTS) February 10, 2019
Good evening! Welcome to the Live Updates of Manchester City Vs Chelsea! Can the Citizens keep the pressure on league leaders Liverpool with a victory over top-four chasing Chelsea? As ever, I will be here on the live blog to give you all the latest updates on the big game, including team-news, match commentary and all the goals and chances from the game!