A hat-trick from Sergio Aguero and a Thibaut Courtois red card was enough to seal victory for Manchester City against an abject Chelsea side.
Guus Hiddink suffered his first defeat at Stamford Bridge across both his tenures at the club as the Blues’ lackluster end to the season continued.
The manager continued to follow up on his promise of experimental Chelsea line-ups until the end of the season as youngster Ruben Loftus-Cheek was given his third consecutive start.
Diego Costa returned to the Chelsea side following a three-match suspension whilst fellow Brazilian Willian returned from injury.
Matt Miazga dropped to the bench as Gary Cahill and Branislav Ivanovic partnered up in central defence.
An open start to the game presented chances to both sides as Chelsea had Courtois to thank for the scoreline remaining goalless.
Nicolas Otamendi did well to clear off the line from a effort from range by Pedro, who was arguably one of Chelsea’s best players on an otherwise frustrating afternoon.
The Blues’ inability to defend City’s pacey counter attacks was clear from the early stages however, and Aguero did well to finish from the edge of the area after being fed by former Chelsea man Kevin de Bruyne.
The lack of creativity in attacking areas gave the Stamford Bridge faithful very little hope of an equaliser, and the result was all but sealed after another classy finish from Aguero following a swift City breakaway ten minutes after half time.
Following Courtois’ red card, for naively bringing down Fernandinho as the Brazilian broke through on goal, and the consequent penalty which beat Begovic to secure Aguero’s hat-trick, Stamford Bridge started to empty out.
Kevin de Bruyne’s attitude towards Chelsea had been the central focus of the pre-match build up after he was sold by Mourinho in January 2014, and the Belgian certainly proved a point to his former club with another classy, direct and creative performance.
Ruben Loftus-Cheek, along with Pedro and Courtois (at least for the first half), can be seen as one of the positives for Chelsea today, most notably forcing a good save from Joe Hart after a clever turn in the Man City area.
Chelsea, who were unbeaten since December until last week’s loss to Swansea, have now suffered consecutive defeats and lost for the first time at Stamford Bridge under Guus Hiddink.
Next up is a trip to Bournemouth, although the significance of each game seems to be decreasing by the week for Chelsea fans.
Chelsea 0-3 Man City – Your Reaction
@CFCNewsApp the lack of creativity makes defending Chelsea easy. We need conte & new formation.
— Alxton (@alxtontube_Alex) April 16, 2016
@CFCNewsApp RLC was the only shining light thought he showed a lot of maturity out there today when more experienced heads dropped. #CFC
— Tom (@Jewie_7) April 16, 2016
@CFCNewsApp Conte needs to change so much in order to bring back the glory days, this team needs a massive, massive overhauling.
— Rushan Arshad (@ChelseaAnalytic) April 16, 2016
@CFCNewsApp somethings are better left unsaid. #Gutted
— Reward davies (@daviesreward) April 16, 2016
Chelsea 0-3 Man City – Stats and Facts
- Guus Hiddink has lost two league games in a row as a club manager for the first time since February 2004 (at PSV Eindhoven)
- Sergio Aguero is only the 3rd player to score an hat-trick away at Stamford Bridge in the Premier League (after van Persie & Kanu)
- Thibaut Courtois is only the sixth goalkeeper to be sent off twice in a single Premier League season
- Chelsea beaten 3-0 both home and away by Man City this season
- Chelsea have gone nine Premier League home games without a clean sheet; their longest ever such run in the competition
Source: Opta
