Manchester City 1-0 Chelsea: 5 Talking Points

#3 Kante sorely missed as Chelsea's lack of quality across the pitch is exposed

Chelsea midfielders struggled to keep up

Don't get me wrong. Chelsea have some top players in their squad. But since the turn of the year, they all have been made to look mediocre far too many times for anyone's liking.

Without Kante, Chelsea looked like a car that lost its engine and was stuck on a plateau. There was no ball recovery and their passing play lacked conviction and precision. After selling Matic, Conte brought in Bakayoko, Drinkwater and Barkley to sort out their midfield problems.

None of them have proved to be a quality replacement for the solid Serbian and in the absence of Kante, they looked devoid of ideas and deprived of any quality going forward.

Hazard hardly ever got on the ball after he was deployed as a false nine/striker(?) (it was hard to discern given how rarely they got forward).

Pedro's passing was awful and a couple of times when it looked like it could either way as Chelsea broke on the counter, it was his passing in the final third that made sure that it all came to nothing.

Chelsea did not press until the Cityzens forayed into the final third and in the absence of Kante, they looked like they'd been stripped off of their ball retrieving powers.