Chelsea vs Manchester City: Chelsea benefit from extra space in win against City

Joe Hart

The meeting between these two teams last season will best be remembered as Rafa Benitez’s first in charge ofChelsea. A poisonous atmosphere greeted the Spaniard as Manchester City held their Premier League counterparts to a stale 0-0 draw. This time, as the pair met at Stamford Bridge with a new man at the helm in both camps, José Mourinho returning to Chelsea and Manuel Pellegrini succeeding Roberto Mancini as City boss, the encounter certainly lived up to expectations.

Beginning the campaign as early title favourites following the expansive level of investment in the summer, it was little surprise that the two teams were separated by a solitary point prior to kick off. Following the final whistle, however, Joe Hart‘s mistake late on allowed Fernando Torres to net a winner that saw the Blues move back up to second and opened a 4-point gap between themselves and City.

The primary difference between this season’s meeting compared to last lay in how open the match was. A turgid affair last term wasn’t aided in the deployment the respective starting XI’s. Benitez, initially apprehensive at succumbing to defeat in his first game in charge, ensured his team remained compact, while Mancini in the opposite dugout looked to stifle the attack of the Blues by denying his opposite number any real attacking play through the middle.

That saw just 15 shots on goal in total as the two teams cancelled one another out in a fixture that didn’t live long in the memory. Compared to Sunday’s meeting, the level of offensive quality was raised substantially. Supporters in Chelsea’s 2-1 win were treated to a total of 27 shots on goal, with the 3 goals providing the cornerstone to the increase in level of entertainment on offer.

Judging from the average position of the players’ touches from both games, the play was clearly spread across the park and that played into the Blues’ hands, with widemen Eden Hazard and Andre Schürrle allowed to stretch the game. Even with City starting 2 players whose natural inclination is to cut inside – David Silva and Samir Nasri – the pairing operating closer to the sideline meant the encounter was nowhere near as cluttered as last terms’ affair.

The areas gifted to the attacking players allowed these performers to excel, with Torres (9.2) and Agüero (8.0) picking up the highest WhoScored rating in the match. Last season, the 5 highest rated players were all defenders, with Matija Nastasic (7.9) the best. It was hardly surprising to see both Torres and Agüero thrive in the space offered to them in their respective attacking thirds, while this also allowed the more creative stars to express themselves on the pitch, most notably in the number of combined key passes executed rising to 19 from last season’s 13.

Noticably the approach differed between the two performances from either side. Pellegrini is famed for his aesthetically pleasing brand of football during his spells with Villarreal, Real Madrid and Malaga and that showed today as he looked to take at least a point back to Manchester. The introduction of Jesús Navas for Nasri with 20 minutes remaining signified this, while replacing Javi Garcia for Aleksander Kolarov 10 minutes later allowed the natural width on the left flank to be restored.

While Pellegrini opted for the lone striker in Aguero, the City team still boasted a much improved attacking threat in contrast to their performance last season and the average position of the player’s touches reinforces this notion. Unfortunately, this gave Chelsea a greater vigour to attack the opposition, as noted by Torres’ man of the match display, regardless of his horrible miss in the first half. The space offered to the attacking trio of Schürrle, Oscar and Hazard saw the hosts profit, as exhibited in their increased shots on goal tally and 2 goals, despite the eventual winner coming as a result of a miscommunication between Hart and Nastasic.

Needless to say, the game lived up to the billing beforehand, especially when compared to the easily forgettable meeting last term. The players on both sides were offered the time on the ball needed to operate at a much improved level in contrast to last seasons’ fixture and that’s evidenced by the individual displays of Torres andAgüero. The teams have altered to match the needs of their new managers and that was certainly shown in a performance that saw Chelsea reaffirm their credentials as title favourites at the expense of City.