PLAYER RATINGS FROM MANCHESTER CITY 1-0 CHELSEA

 PLAYER RATINGS AS MAN CITY BEAT CHELSEA 1-0 AT HOME

-Mihir Mehta and Vivaan Jain

-Editors: Samarth Purohit and Mitansh Kagalwala

MANCHESTER CITY

Ederson - 7.5/10 - Excellent stop to deny Lukaku a goal from Chelsea’s only shot on target. Had some good positioning but did not have much to do throughout the game.

Kyle Walker - 7/10 - Made some great runs in the second half to try to capitalise on the attack but wasn’t troubled defensively.

John Stones – 7.5/10 - Troubled by Lukaku just once in the game, and shut down the Belgian in an excellent game for Stones. Had little to do in defence against a lacklustre Chelsea attack.

Aymeric Laporte - 7/10 - Looked calm, cool and collected and was all around confident with the ball.

Joao Cancelo - 8/10 - Absolutely stellar with the crosses and was also responsible for the assist of the sole goal of the game. Magnificent as always.

Rodri - 7.5/10 - Controlled and dominated Chelsea defensively and acted like a shield for the City defence.

Bernardo Silva - 6.5/10 - Didn’t look as lethal as we know he could be and overall did not impact the game much. Had a few wonderful moments of skill, however.

Kevin De Bruyne - 9/10 - Had an excellent game as he scored a stunner and was on point with the free kicks and crosses throughout the game. One of his best performances since his mishap with COVID.

Jack Grealish - 6/10 - Missed crucial chance in the first half and had an uneventful rest of the game.

Phil Foden - 6.5/10 - Shut down by the Chelsea defence as he couldn’t do much while being man marked almost the entire game. Created a good chance and cross in the first half but after that could not be very impactful. However, it must be taken into consideration that Foden was playing out of position, in the centre of City’s attack.

Raheem Sterling - 8/10 - Dangerous throughout the game and tormented Marcos Alonso on that right flank. The Englishman looks back to form. 

CHELSEA

Kepa Arrizabalaga – 7.5/10- Kepa is arguably the best keeper in the world who isn't a regular starter for his team. He made a few decent saves across the game, including an excellent one against Jack Grealish in the 1^st half. Tuchel will hope the Spaniard retains this form in Edouard Mendy’s absence.

Antonio Rudiger: 6/10- Rudiger did well to hold off Grealish on the right flank denying him many opportunities to score. He could keep up with the pace of the England international and made key interceptions and tackles, however his performance was let down by his relatively poor passing and ball distribution.

Thiago Silva- 7.5/10- The veteran defender had a solid game with a passing accuracy of 93%. He maintained the defensive structure during City attacks and played a vital role in defending set pieces. In order to progress the game forward and work the ball, he went with several long passes, which sometimes found Lukaku and other players in attacking positions, but also often led to a loss of possession

Malang Sarr- 6/10- Sarr is slowly settling into his place in the team. His early interception cut out a crucial chance for City, though his overall game could have been more balanced.

Cezar Azpilicueta- 5/10- The Chelsea captain was seen pacing down the right flank of City, but was ineffective in attack. While solid in defence, the Spaniard failed to provide an outlet for the Chelsea offence down the right wing.

Marcos Alonso- 4/10- The Spaniard was bullied by Raheem Sterling throughout. Beaten on pace several times, Alonso had to concede several fouls in the Chelsea half to stop City’s attack.

Kovacic- 5/10- Kovacic committed silly fouls and gave the ball away quite a few times. His long balls to Lukaku were often inaccurate and went astray, and he nearly gifted City a goal when he lost possession in front of the goal.

Ngolo Kante- 7/10- Kante, though not at his best, was the best Chelsea midfielder. He made good recoveries, however, he was beaten by Kevin De Bruyne for the goal.

Hakim Ziyech- 5/10- A lacklustre performance from Ziyech, who was completely shut down by the City defence.

Christian Pulisic- 5/10- The pair of number 10s were a strong unit on paper but lacked cohesion and made silly errors that cost them the chance to make a difference. Being painfully honest, they had to little to no influence on the game as a whole.

Romelu Lukaku- 5/10- Lukaku was invisible in a big game once again, and failed to truly trouble the City backline. His hold up play wasn’t good enough, and he missed Chelsea’s best chance of the game. Not looking like a £100 million man just yet.