London, Manchester City put in their best performance of the season so far as they beat Chelsea 1-0 at Stamford Bridge

Gabriel Jesus scored the game’s only goal, but it was a terrific all-round display by Pep Guardiola’s side, led by the likes of Ruben Dias, Joao Cancelo, Bernardo Silva and Jack Grealish.

The first half saw a total of zero shots on target for both teams, but it was City that were the dominant force. Their pressing was too much for Chelsea, who were camped inside their own half for the majority of the first 45 minutes.

After the break, it looked like the game went on to see more of the same, as City came flying out of the blocks, but were unable to find a way past the goalkeeper Edouard Mendy, who had a great individual performance.

In the 53rd minute, though, Gabriel Jesus gave City the breakthrough they had been looking for. Kevin De Bruyne took a short corner that ended up falling at the feet of Cancelo, whose shot at goal only went as far as Jesus. The Brazilian, with a crowd of Chelsea players around him, managed to spin and get a shot away at goal, which was deflected and went into the bottom left corner to give City a deserved lead.

That goal forced Chelsea to start trying to attack, having been toothless for the previous 53 minutes, but they were unable to ever truly test Ederson. In fact, by the end of the game, they had managed a total of five shots and got zero on target.

It seemed more likely that City were going to be the team that would score the second goal of the game, with Jesus even having a shot cleared off the line by Thiago Silva just after the hour mark, but ultimately it wasn’t to be. Ahead of a crucial week in which Guardiola’s side now face Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) in the UEFA Champions League and Liverpool in the English Premier League (EPL), this was the perfect way to start.

This victory for City, coupled with Manchester United’s defeat at home to Aston Villa, means that they rise to second in the table, with Chelsea dropping to third, the Spanish MARCA newspaper reported.

Source: Oman News Agency