Man City vs Chelsea - Premier League Player Ratings

Let’s take a look at the player ratings from the top-of-the-table Premier League match between Manchester City and Chelsea at the Etihad Stadium.

Kevin De Bruyne struck a 70th-minute winner against former club Chelsea to put Manchester City on the brink of another Premier League title.

Eights months on since Chelsea denied Man City a maiden Champions League title in Lisbon, the two clubs met again for a second time since that fateful night – and only the second time as Premier League leaders as well.

Predictably, Man City dominated early on while Chelsea played the waiting game. The Blues played deep, defended well, and frustrated their rivals. It wasn’t pretty, but it did the trick. Opportunities were few, leaving the scoreline goalless between the sides for the break.

The best chance of the first half fell to Jack Grealish. The Englishman capitalized on a rare Mateo Kovacic error to put himself in a promising position, only for Chelsea keeper Kepa Arrizabalaga to deny him.

5 – Kevin De Bruyne has now scored five goals against former club Chelsea in the Premier League; the most by a player against the Blues after having previously played for them in the competition. Tormentor. pic.twitter.com/c8tFLNSQ8u

— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) January 15, 2022

De Bruyne fires Man City closer to another title

After a dull opening period, the game burst to life in the second half. Both teams showed a greater sense of urgency in search of a winner, inevitably creating chances on both ends of the pitch.

Romelu Lukaku got the ball rolling by forcing Man City keeper Ederson into a fine save just three minutes into the second period, before De Bruyne intervened to put Pep Guardiola’s side another step closer to the Premier League title.

The Belgian shrugged off a challenge and, with no support around him, curled the ball brilliantly into the bottom right corner from outside the box in the 70th-minute.

It was De Bruyne’s sixth goal of the season, and perhaps one of his most significant. The strike was enough to seal City a 1-0 win over their closest title rivals, moving them 13 points clear at the top of the Premier League with a 12th successive victory in tow.

The Citizens will now visit Southampton next weekend, while Chelsea take a trip to Brighton on Tuesday.

Player Ratings

MANCHESTER CITY: Ederson (7); Walker (6), Stones (7), Laporte (7), Cancelo (8); Silva (6), Rodri (6), De Bruyne (9); Sterling (6), Foden (5), Grealish (7).

Bench: Gundogan (6), Jesus (6).

CHELSEA: Kepa (7); Rudiger (6), Silva (6), Sarr (7); Azpilicueta (7), Kante (6), Kovacic (5), Alonso (5); Pulisic (5), Ziyech (6); Lukaku (5).

Bench: Werner (5), Mount (6), Hudson-Odoi (5).

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