Chelsea 2-0 Manchester City: 3 Reasons why City lost | Premier League 2018-19

Manchester City's cloak of invincibility was taken off by Maurizio Sarri's Chelsea, who got an emphatic victory over the reigning champions in a hotly contested game of football. Chelsea's resilience and character shone through, keeping the league's pace-setters at bay, making it the first occasion in two years when Manchester City have lost by two clear goals in the league.

This defeat sees Manchester City slip up to Liverpool, who now sit a point ahead of the Cityzens after their victory earlier today against Bournemouth. Chelsea remains in third, sitting 8 points behind the league leaders.

Manchester City had the lions' share of the possession, having 62 percent of the ball, but were kept quiet by an uncharacteristically solid Chelsea defence, the same defence that collapsed recently at Wembley against Tottenham.

Chelsea set up in a strange manner, to say the least, with Hazard starting in a false 9 role flanked by Pedro and Willian, with no conventional striker chosen to start against the reigning champions.

Chelsea's team spirit truly shone through, and them sacrificing their playing style and putting in the hard yards were what separated them from tonight's loser. Here are 3 reasons why Manchester City lost.

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#1 Missing key starters

The likes of De Bruyne and Aguero were missed by City

For the first time this season, Manchester City had injured players and actually missed them. It's a testament to the team that the City hierarchy have built that De Bruyne, the league's best midfielder has played only three games this season, and Manchester City have not skipped a beat.

Bernardo Silva has done a terrific job, but De Bruyne was sorely missed tonight, as he offers a controlling presence in the middle of the park like no other player in England.

Sergio Aguero also missed out through a hip injury, and Guardiola elected Sterling to play his role, and the birthday boy failed spectacularly in trying to replicate the Argentinian's role. Gabriel Jesus was brought on for Sane, and despite being one of the best young talents in the game, he just doesn't have the requisite quality or experience that Aguero possesses. These two players' presence in the starting lineup could have given us a much different result tonight.

#2 Chelsea's gameplan and execution

Guardiola's was out-manoeuvred by Sarri, whose fielded XI did everything asked of them

When the lineups were announced an hour before the game, I saw the team sheet and thought that Chelsea was set up to lose and I couldn't have been more wrong, as Sarri's men put in the best defensive displays since the Italian's arrival in the summer, keeping one of Europe's most potent sides at bay for a full 90 minutes.

Key to this clean sheet was Chelsea's captain, Cesar Azpilicueta, who made nine successful tackles and won an astonishing 16 duels on the night, being the best defensive performer on the pitch by far. His defensive partner, David Luiz, also put in a good shift, despite looking shaky in the first period of the game, and capped Chelsea's performance with a headed goal late in the second half.

Chelsea may have blown the title race wide open with this victory, as Liverpool now sit at the summit of the table, and Sarri will be extremely pleased with his side's efforts in this match, which became the only team alongside the new leaders to keep last year's champions goalless in a match in the league.

#3 Lacklustre performances from stars

Much was expected from Riyad Mahrez and Raheem Sterling, the men tasked with leading City's line tonight, and both of them put in performances well below the bar that they've recently.

Mahrez always looked to cut in from the right, and Marcos Alonso and Luiz seemed to have the Algerian's number, who put in one of his least effective shifts since becoming City's record signing.

Bernardo Silva made several clever runs looking to free up space for the former Leicester City player, but tonight was just not his night, as he seemed to be a yard off his pace, getting second to almost every ball, and was taken off for Phil Foden at the 84th minute.

Mahrez was utterly disappointing against Chelsea

Leroy Sane, City's bright spark in the first half, was surprisingly sacrificed by the coach in place of an out of form Gabriel Jesus, whose dry streak in front of goal continued tonight at Stamford Bridge. Sterling or Mahrez were arguably better candidates to be taken off so early, as Sane was constantly troubling Azpilicueta, and had him on the ropes on more occasion than one in the first half.

Chelsea grew into the game after he was taken off, and were arguably the better side after the young Brazilian's arrival on the pitch, and the Blues looked more potent despite having much less of the ball than the visitors, who were allowed to have possession for the sake of it, especially after the home side went two goals up.

I'm sure Manchester City will bounce back and return to their imperious best, but this game may have given the rest of the world a blueprint on how to stop Guardiola's juggernaut.