Chelsea 0-3 Manchester City Review

Premier League GW31

It’s not enough for your rivals to drop points; you need to capitalise. After Bournemouth won at the Emirates, this wasn’t an easy game, but Manchester City were able to find the way to three points, after making changes and stepping up the aggression in the second half.

MOTM: RAYAN CHERKI

Two assists from two chances created. Displayed the sense of tempo Guardiola mentioned pre-match for both of those goals. Helped to find a way through the press of Chelsea in the first half, to find the space he could exploit in the second half, and you can see the improvement made from the player who arrived last summer.

A close contender for MOTM was Marc Guehi, who had his best performance for Manchester City since joining. Provides the most progressive passes and passes into the final third. Scored the second goal. 5/5 ground duels won. 3/4 aerial duels won. Joint with Bernardo Silva and Jeremy Doku for the most defensive actions (9) for City in the game.

Regardless of how the rest of the season plays out, the signing has had a clear impact on the team, and he’s proven his value. When you look at the World Cup in the summer, with the team having a limited preseason, Marc Guehi will already be integrated and ready to go. Since joining the club, Guehi has started 11 out of 17 games. Three of those he was unavailable for, and two were FA Cup games being rested.

Notable Stats:

• Rayan Cherki is the first player to reach 10+ assists in his debut Premier League season since Dimitri Payet in 2015-16.

• Rayan Cherki has assisted 2+ goals in 4 matches this season, the most of any Premier League player across all competitions in 2025-26 (Bruno Fernandes, 3).

• Chelsea have lost back-to-back Premier League games by 3+ goals for the first time since February 2018 under Antonio Conte (0-3 vs Bournemouth, 1-4 vs Watford).

• When playing within their final 10 games of Premier League seasons, Manchester City have lost just one of their last 43 matches, winning 32 times (D10).

Game Stats:

Chelsea 0-3 Manchester City

• xG: 1.17 - 2.0

• xThreat: 1.03 - 2.07

• Possession: 36.9% - 63.1%

• Field Tilt: 25.5% - 74.5%

• Penalty Box Shots: 7 - 14

• Deep Entries: 7 - 24

• PPDA: 19.9 - 7.0

• High Turnovers: 6 - 5

3 starts, 3 wins, and 3 clean sheets for the back four of O'Reilly, Guehi, Khusanov, and Nunes this season.

Marc Guehi (1,060) has now played more minutes for Manchester City this season than John Stones (968).

32 full 90s for Matheus Nunes this season. The most by an outfield player. In the 23/24 season, he only managed 7.

15 clean sheets for Donnarumma for all competitions, the 3rd most he's had in a single season across his career. On pace to surpass his career best (18).

If you want to stay up-to-date on individual player minutes, back four combinations, underlying numbers, and more, check out the live Google sheet below. 👇

Donnarumma for Trafford was the only change from the last two Cup games. As we’re used to seeing, Doku and Semenyo out wide on either side. Nunes is forming a back three with Guehi and Khusanov. Rodri is the single pivot in front, with Bernardo dropping in when needed. Nico O’Reilly pushes up and into the box.

Part of the difficulties Chelsea posed in the first half was using Andrey Santos as a situational central defender, dropping into the backline to form a five and prevent them from being overloaded. Manchester City did not make enough runs in behind in that period to drive Chelsea into the box, into the back five, and open up the space in front to play. It also meant Santos was able to support Gusto without worrying about tracking O’Reilly as often.

Initially, we saw Manchester City press Chelsea in the 4-2-4 that we’ve seen against Arsenal (League Cup) and Liverpool (FA Cup). It was too passive, and Chelsea was able to find solutions. Andrey Santos dropping between the split CBs. If Nunes is pinned by Neto and you pull Semenyo inside, Cucurella is easily found, and you have a 2v1 against Nunes. Same approach on the other side to find a 2v1 against O’Reilly. This is how Chelsea was able to find ways to progress the ball in the first half and build to those early chances.

The difference here in the second half was to be more aggressive and step onto Chelsea. Cherki would cover the pivot. Haaland pressed Santos and Sanchez directly, as soon as the opportunity came. Silva and Rodri, depending on the side Chelsea play out, would push up to support the winger, meaning they can press the wide CB of Chelsea. Guehi would follow Joao Pedro when he dropped deeper.

Flurry of four chances for Chelsea at the near-post in the first twenty minutes. Along with Cucrella having a goal ruled out offside. Those issues with the passive press, as mentioned above, led to those. But Chelsea weren’t able to punish them, and couldn’t maintain it throughout the first half, before the opening was closed off.

Manchester City took longer to find their first shot (21’), leading to a couple of good chances for Bernardo (34’) and Cherki (39’) inside the box. With Santos dropping into the backline, the space for a cutback was there, and the runs of O’Reilly were helping to open them up.

In addition to the tweaks out of possession, Cherki remained more on the right side, as in the first half, he’d drift over to the left, and they’d struggled to attack down that right side with Semenyo isolated. No one to support if they switched across to him. Along with those changes, you saw a clear increase in the tempo on the ball, in the aggression across the team, to get the goal.

N. O'Reilly (51') 0-1
Guardiola spoke ahead of the game about Cherki having a great sense of tempo. When to accelerate and when to slow it down. Initially looks to go inside to Rodri, realises the box is full, slows it down, and combines with Semenyo.

Haaland 2v1 in the box with Gusto and Fofana. O'Reilly 1v1 with Andrey Santos. Bernardo 1v1 with Hato. Cherki engages 1v1, beats his man to find separation, time to accelerate, and puts in the cross for O'Reilly to head past Sanchez.

M. Guehi (57') 0-2
Short corner from Cherki to Doku, who draws in one player as Cherki moves to the top of the box. Receives and drives along the top. Guehi is covered at the back-post at the moment.

Doesn't force the pass at the first opportunity. No teammate has enough space to get a shot off. Bursts past the second player, continuing along the box. Now he's able to slip the pass through to Guehi, in space, with the outside of his left foot in stride.

Excellent first touch, on the half-turn from Guehi, and finished into the far corner. He might be better on the half-turn than most other attackers you’ll see in the Premier League. His first Premier League goal for the club. His 8th goal contribution this season, across all competitions for Manchester City and Crystal Palace. He’s a defender who can contribute in both boxes.

O’Reilly came off injured for Ait-Nouri (64’). Holding his hamstring, but looked to be in good spirits post-match. Hopefully, it’s only a minimal time out, and if it’s tightness, he could be available for Arsenal (H). Despite that, Ait-Nouri showed his quality and slotted right in. The team doesn’t lack options if needed.

Lavia and Garnacho on for Santos and Estevao (67’), who had struggled in the second half, and were at fault for the goals. Santos 1v1 with O’Reilly, and Estevao was easily bypassed by Cherki for the second. 0/3 dribbles completed for the winger, 0/3 aerial duels won, and 2/11 ground duels won.

J. Doku (68') 0-3
Semenyo's shot is saved by Sanchez, who plays a quick throw-out to Caicedo. Cherki, Doku, and Bernardo all close in.

Bernardo closes the option to turn and drive forward. Doku coming across closes the pass to Neto. Cherki pressures from behind. His only option is to go back. From there, Doku and Cherki force Caicedo off the ball.

Drives into the box, away from Caicedo, and Fofana is not able to get across in time to block the shot. The near-post is left wide open to score.

Shortly after the goal, Foden and Savinho came on for Cherki and Doku (76’) as the game came to a close. The two biggest creators for the team get their rest. Another opportunity for Foden and Savinho, who I thought were bright in those cameos. Kovacic came on for Silva (81’). He managed to avoid picking up a yellow card, which would have gotten him suspended for two matches. First minutes back for the Croatian midfielder since returning from a long injury.

Final round of changes for Chelsea with Acheampong (88’) on for Gusto, Essugo for Caicedo (82’), and Delap for Pedro (81’). With the result already settled.

Chelsea didn’t have a shot in the second half until the 66th minute with Palmer’s effort blocked. Only two of their shots in that half were on target and didn’t come until the final ten minutes of the game. Cucurella (83’) header inside the box, requiring Donnarumma to pull off an excellent save at close range, and the free-kick by Palmer (85’) was easily saved at the far-post. The threat wasn’t there from Chelsea that we saw in the first half.

There was also a big difference between the two sides in aerial duels and long balls. Chelsea completed 12/35 long balls and won just 3/12 aerial duels. Manchester City won 9/12 aerial duels and completed 20/29 long balls.

Most of those missed passes were from Robert Sanchez, completing only one of eighteen attempts. Repeatedly forced long by Manchester City throughout the game. Neither did Chelsea have the outlet to win those duels. Pedro (1/3) and Estevao (0/3) struggled.

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Moving Forward

There is no denying the importance of the game, as Guardiola mentioned ahead of it, you lose, and the title is over. Everybody knows it. You’d expect Chelsea to have some solutions to the setup of City out of possession, but they were able to defend those openings and make the right changes at half-time, going on to win the game.

That setup will change for future games, likely similar to the approach in the second half, being more aggressive in the press, but the collection of players. That starting eleven. It’s got all the qualities you’d want to see in a team to get the win. The job is simple. Win every game, and you win the Premier League.

Jeremy Doku made the most progressive carries, ball recoveries, and box entries for Manchester City. Scored the third goal. He's now played 2,361 minutes this season, his most in a single season at the club. He has also played 1,000+ more minutes than Marmoush and Savinho have this season.

Big performance from Khusanov, making important blocks in the first half, and then bringing that same aggression we love from him to the defensive phase, to his passes in behind, switch out to Doku, and driving past the first line with the ball. Improving everyday. You can see the confidence he has, and more importantly, the team has in him.

These are the defenders with the most goal contributions for Manchester City under Pep Guardiola. Nico O'Reilly is now the leader. Nunes was a standout last season, now playing deeper, but still having some impact in the final third. You’ll also spot Gvardiol on the list with three different seasons, providing some big goals, and that is the same as O’Reilly this season. Scoring big goals when the team needs it. Cancelo used to be the bar, but we’ve quickly seen a few new players surpass it.

13 assists now for Rayan Cherki across all competitions. Moving him up the list for most assists by a Manchester City player under Pep Guardiola for a single season. De Bruyne makes up seven of the top ten spots. As incredible as Cherki has been in his debut season, it’s a stark reminder of where the level is. Like reaching a false peak on a hike.

Next up for Manchester City is Arsenal (H) in the Premier League on the 19th of April at 16:30 (UK time). This feels like, and will be built up as, the title decider. Pick up three points, and Manchester City will have the momentum to go on and win the league. But for Arsenal, it’s an opportunity to get back up and find some sort of momentum for themselves after losing three of the last four games.

No midweek game for Manchester City, but Arsenal has Sporting (H) in the CL, only leading by one goal, so there is still plenty of work left for them to progress.