Skip to main content

Chelsea backs on stage

Chelsea laid down a huge marker for the Premier League title by coming from behind to beat Manchester City 3-1 in a game that boiled over on Saturday at the Etihad Stadium. City took the lead on the stroke of half-time courtesy of a Gary Cahill own goal before second-half strikes from Diego Costa and Willian swung the game in Chelsea's favour. Costa's equaliser on 60 minutes came after a period of relentless City pressure during which Kevin De Bruyne missed a glorious chance from just four yards out.
  Eden Hazard wrapped up the points in injury time to stretch Chelsea's winning run to eight games in the league but that was not the end of the drama as Sergio Aguero was dismissed for an ugly tackle on David Luiz before Fernandino followed him down the tunnel for an altercation with Cesc Fabregas. The victory moves Chelsea four points clear at the top of the Premier League while City, who were four points clear themselves at the end of September, have now taken just 12 points from their last eight games. Much was made of the tactical battle between the two managers in the build-up and Pep Guardiola decided to match Conte's 3-4-3 formation.
Guardiola made six changes from the team that beat Burnley 2-1 last weekend with David Silva and De Bruyne back in the starting line-up. Raheem Sterling, Yaya Toure, Nolito, Fernando, Gael Clichy and Bacary Sagna were the six players to drop out.It was just the single change for Conte, who lost Nemanja Matic to a "small muscular problem" with Fabregas replacing him.Despite City starting with good intent, it was Hazard who had the first shot when curling an effort from 20 yards inches wide of the post after 15 minutes.Aguero tested Thibaut Courtois from a similar distance 10 minutes later but the goalkeeper helped it on its way over the crossbar.
City did have the ball in the net moments later but Fernandinho's header from close range was ruled out as he was a yard offside from De Bruyne's set-piece.Luiz was thrust into the spotlight on 30 minutes as he obstructed Aguero as he attempted to latch onto a poor back-pass by Cesar Azpilicueta.It seemed like referee Anthony Taylor was about to blow for the free-kick - and potentially a red card for Luiz as the last man - but ended up waving play on, much to the annoyance of the home fans.Those boos turned to cheers just before half-time though as City took the lead. Jesus Navas swung a hopeful ball into the near post and Cahill awkwardly swung a right foot at the ball which deflected into the top corner.
The goal visibly shook Chelsea but City were unable to take advantage of their defensive frailtiesDe Bruyne snuck in behind but was denied at the near post by Courtois before Cahill and Marcus Alonso got into bother on the edge of their box but Aguero's effort was cleared off the line by the former.De Bruyne should have doubled City's lead on 57 minutes after they opened up Chelsea down the right flank. Ilkay Gundogan rolled the ball across for the Belgian but with the goal gaping he could only hit the crossbar City had little response and it was left to Hazard to dance away past Alexander Kolarov in injury time to seal the points.With the clock running down, the game ended on a sour note as Aguero launched into a reckless high tackle on Luiz by the touchline, both benches getting involved in the melee that followed. The red card was brandished to Aguero and also Fernandinho, who appeared to grab Fabregas by the throat as City lost their cool as well as the game.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

23 SELF-DEVELOPMENT TIPS

1. Make friends with Successful people and occasionally buy them gifts and surprise them with lunch because successful people always give and hardly get, so when you give them, they value the gift a lot. 2. Get a Mentor, walk closely with him/her, copy/emulate his system of doing things he is successful at, stay with them for long times, stick with them and follow his instructions. 3. Make New and Positive friends as often as possible and ensure you keep the communication line open. Create a network of friends and not just connections. Make friends with those who value you, who bring out the best in you, who believe in you, who makes you happy, successful, proud of and thinks you are beautiful. Your close friends, let them learn from you and or you are learning from them, make friends with benefits. Often crosscheck your associates; scrutiny is the mother of innovation/self development! Read more

Change Your Life This Season With New Entrepreneurship Programme

On January 1, 2017, The Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF) will begin accepting applications for the third round of the TEF Entrepreneurship Programme. The Programme is the Foundation’s 10-year, US$100 million commitment to training, mentoring and funding 10,000 African entrepreneurs.The application portal will be open until midnight (WAT), March 1, 2017. Entrepreneurs must complete the online application and selection is on a rolling basis, so early application is encouraged.The Programme is designed to identify entrepreneurs that have the potential to grow their businesses and collectively generate 1,000,000 new jobs, that can contribute at least $10 billion in additional revenues to the African economy., The success of 2015 Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurs reflects the impact of the Programme, including:1. Momar Mass-Taal (Agriculture, Gambia) turned his $5,000 seed capital into $1.2 million in revenue2. Bukhary Kibonajoro (Education & Training, Tanzania) used the mentorship and tr...

7 Elements for Entrepreneurial Journey

Entrepreneur needs to consider the following before taking on entrepreneurial journey Think Thinking is the brain behind any thing achievable in life. No success attended work that does not for once passes through the process of thinking, meditation and reflection. Before a viable business is set out, a positive thinking is required which goes along with measured risk. Think out the way you can launch the business of your own. Contemplate how you can brand your product which would make it different to the competitors' in your industry i.e. you have to do it in a lucrative and uncommon way.  Read more