Manchester City temporarily go up to third place in the Barclays Premier League table after Sergio Aguero smashed in a hat-trick to defeat Chelsea 3-0 in an impressive counter attacking performance.
Aguero excelled in his lone striker role, well supported by the pace and creativity of Samir Nasri and Chelsea reject Kevin De Bruyne. Aguero saw a shot deflected off Gary Cahill, giving Thibaut Courtois no chance for his first goal. Following that, he finished a sweeping City counter attack for City’s second. His third came by way of a converted penalty, awarded after Fernandinho was impeded in the penalty box.
Both Manchester City and Chelsea started the first and second halves brightly, but the Citizens’ firepower seemed too much for Chelsea to handle.
Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegerini was happy with his side’s convincing victory against the Blues. Speaking to Sky Sports, he said “I’m very satisfied. We knew before the game Chelsea would be difficult but we also wanted revenge for the FA Cup game we had to play here with a young team and they beat us 5-1.
“Tonight was a complete game and three very important points because we want to finish as near the top of the table as we can.”
Chelsea’s loss at Stamford Bridge means that Guus Hiddink has lost two games on the trot for the first time since Febuary 2004. In his post match interview, he focused on the importance of concentrating on performing well in the remaining games of the season.
“There’s nothing at stake in silverware but after having a very difficult season as Chelsea everyone has to show their character and pride in playing for the club. I’m very keen and motivated to get the last games done with good results and not have it slide away,” he said, speaking to Sky Sports.
What next?
Chelsea head to Bournemouth for a difficult league fixture, but with nothing to play for in the league, Guus Hiddink could experiment with giving more playing time to the Blues’ youngsters. Ruben Loftus-Cheek’s involvement in recent games has been one of the few positives for the Stamford Bridge faithful, and they will hope that the young midfielder continues to feature in every game until the end of the campaign.
Meanwhile, Manchester City, now brimming with confidence after their Champions League victory and resounding win over Chelsea, will head to St. James’ Park to face a relegation threatened Newcastle United.
The Citizens will not win the league title, but will aim to fight for third place in the Premier League table which will give them a place in next season’s Champions League group stages. The prospect of denying city rivals Manchester United a place in the Champions League will no doubt be another motivating factor.
