MATCH REPORT AND PLAYER RATINGS - MANCHESTER CITY 1-0 CHELSEA
- William Russell
- May 22, 2023
- 5 min read
A heavily rotated Manchester City side edged past Frank Lampard's Chelsea in a narrow victory that will be remembered for the Blues lifting their 7th Premier League trophy.
City have sealed the Premier League title 2 matches early, which is absolutely crucial, considering the Blues still have to travel down south and face Brighton and Hove Albion and Brentford away in their final Premier League games of the season.
Pep Guardiola's side also have two cup finals to play this season, facing rivals Manchester United in the FA Cup final, and Inter Milan in the Champions League final a week later. Those two matches will decide whether City come away with one, two, or even an historic three trophies, in what has been a unique season due to the winter World Cup in Qatar.
Focusing on the game itself, Guardiola made 9 changes to the side that destroyed Real Madrid 4-0 at the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday night, with only Kyle Walker and Manuel Akanji retaining their places in the starting 11.
This meant we saw rare starts for the likes of Sergio Gomez, Cole Palmer, Rico Lewis and Kalvin Phillips in the Manchester City side. Guardiola had clearly prepared two teams in his mind: one for if City were Premier League Champions, and one for if they still had it all to play for.
Perhaps surprisingly to most fans, given the sheer amount of rotation, it was City who were the side on top, with Cole Palmer, Phil Foden and Julian Alvarez in particular looking dangerous every time they went forward.
City broke through after 12 minutes, as a quick transition led to Palmer sliding the ball through to Alvarez, who fired the ball across goal to score his 17th goal of the season in all competitions.
21 year old Cole Palmer caused more issues down the left hand side, after having his deflected ball across goal cleared cleared off the line by Trevoh Chalobah. He also combined with Foden and Lewis to carve out another goal scoring opportunity, but, ultimately, Alvarez and Foden got in each other's way in the penalty to area to prevent a second goal.
Chelsea did have a few chances, mostly through former City player Raheem Sterling. The 28 year old had a 1 vs 1 opportunity in the first half, but Stefan Ortega-Moreno came out very well to close down the angles and prevent the Englishman from scoring.
Sterling also had an effort cleared off the line by substitute and former teammate John Stones, after Ortega-Moreno did well to take some of the pace of his shot.
The second half was reasonably quiet, with the exception of a disallowed goal for City. Julian Alvarez thought he'd added his second goal, with a 6 yard box tap in, but there was a blatant hand ball by Riyad Mahrez, the man who provided the assist for the goal, meaning it was rightfully disallowed.
Overall, it was a good opportunity for the Blues to rest some key players such as Ruben Dias, Ilkay Gundogan, Jack Grealish and Bernardo Silva, as well as gaining the momentum of a victory, over what was really quite a dire Chelsea side.
City face two days of rest, before taking on Brighton and Hove Albion at the Amex on Wednesday. The Seagulls are fighting for a place in the Europa League, and therefore still have a lot to play for; however, it won't be an easy game for them, as Guardiola's City will always want to keep momentum high.
Here are some pictures from the trophy presentation! (All images courtesy of City Xtra):
And here are the player ratings for the 1-0 victory over Chelsea:
Ortega Moreno - 7.5/10 - Excellent distribution, as always. He also made a few excellent saves to win the game for City. We're all hoping that the German starts in the FA Cup final against Manchester United, as a reward for his excellent performances this season if nothing else.
Walker - 7/10 - Whilst Sterling wasn't kept as quiet as I'm sure Walker would like, he still did an excellent job at full back, making occasional overlapping runs and playing the ball out from the back excellently.
Akanji - 7/10 - A solid performance from the former Borussia Dortmund player, keeping Kai Havertz quiet all match long.
Laporte - 7/10 - In what is, by some reputable accounts, the Spaniard's final game at the Etihad Stadium, Laporte had a solid game typical of his 5 and a half years at the club. With his hair dyed City blue, the 28 year old will go down as one of the best defenders in the club's recent history.
Gomez - 7/10 - Didn't have a whole load of defending to do down his flank. Gomez tucked in alongside Kalvin Phillips in defensive midfield, and looked comfortable and tidy on the ball.
Phillips - 6.5/10 - A bit of a shaky performance from Phillips in some aspects, however, in other aspects, he looked sharper than he ever has been in a sky blue shirt. Nipped in well to win the ball a few times, and progressed the ball well up the pitch, if perhaps a bit too slow for his manager's liking.
Lewis - 7.5/10 - As good as any of City's midfielders, the 18 year old full back had an excellent game as the right sided 8. Lewis pushed on well to support the attack, and his exquisite flick in the penalty area was very unlucky to not end in an assist for either Foden or Alvarez.
Foden - 7/10 - Playing in between the lines, the Stockport Iniesta looked a threat when linking up with Alvarez and Cole Palmer. However, his final ball was occasionally lacking, but there is certainly promise that the 22 year old can fill Kevin de Bruyne's shoes in the attacking midfield role when the Belgian leaves City.
Mahrez - 6.5/10 - A quiet game for the Algerian on the right wing, often fairly isolated on the right wing. Most of City's link up play came down the left hand side, although there were a few occasions when Mahrez looked to get the better of his young opponent Lewis Hall.
Alvarez - 7.5/10 - Excellent finish for his goal, as he drove the ball right in the bottom corner. He could've scored again however, but for the correct intervention of VAR.
Palmer - 8/10 - Gave experienced defender Cesar Azpilicueta a nightmare down City's left hand side. The 21 year old just needs to polish up on his end product a bit, but, other than that, it was a promising performance from Palmer, with his minutes likely to increase next season.
Substitutes: Stones - 7/10 - A generally solid cameo performance, with the addition of an excellent goal line clearance.
Haaland - 6.5/10 - Unfortunate not to get an assist, as his low ball across goal wasn't converted by Rico Lewis. Other than that, he was very quiet, as neither team were really pushing for anything in the last half an hour of the game.
Rodri - 6.5/10 - Playing at centre back, Rodri won numerous aerial duels, and kept possession well.
De Bruyne - 6.5/10 - Ran a lot off the ball, and looked to offer an attacking threat in his limited time on the pitch.
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