When the dust settles on a tempestuous match, the finger-pointing stops and the bans are handed out, perhaps this will be the occasion when Chelsea made it clear their title aspirations are authentic. They rode their luck at times – discounting the own goal from Gary Cahill – and their opponents were entitled to be aggrieved about some of the refereeing decisions. Yet nobody could question the endurance of Antonio Conte’s men, their competitive courage and the tactical acumen of their manager.
Unfortunately for them, the occasion will be remembered more for the collective lack of discipline in stoppage time when City, to put it bluntly, lost the plot. Sergio Agüero, having already served one suspension this season, can expect a four-game ban after his scything red-card challenge on David Luiz. That, however, told only part of the story as the two sets of players clashed by the touchline and Fernandinho could be in serious trouble after reacting to some provocation from Cesc Fàbregas by grabbing him by the neck, levering him towards the crowd and eventually pushing him over the advertising hoardings almost into the laps of the front row of spectators.
Fernandinho wanted to prolong the argument even after being sent off and he, and City, might face further action when the Football Association studies the video replays and sees how stewards had to prevent it getting even more out of hand. Chelsea could also be fined given the number of players from the sides locking horns. To put it into context, the managers felt compelled to go on the pitch and Diego Costa, of all people, could be seen trying to calm down Fernandinho. Guardiola did at least recognise it was a shabby way to end the match – “I would like to apologise,” he said – but he was pushing his luck trying to argue that Agüero’s wild, two-footed challenge was not intentional and his own conduct was questionable, to say the least.
At one point, late in the game, Guardiola could be seen sarcastically clapping the referee, Anthony Taylor, for giving City a free-kick, even punching the air and sticking up his thumbs to give his act an extra flourish. Guardiola insisted that he would never be disrespectful about referees in press conferences, but he had already done just that in front of a television audience stretching to millions. As for his apology, it was hardly uttered in the manner of someone who genuinely felt contrition or embarrassment. He was seething, no matter how determined he was not to criticise Agüero or Fernandinho directly.
It was a breathless contest, laced with controversy, and in fairness to City they did have legitimate complaints, in particular the first-half incident when David Luiz could feasibly have been sent off for halting Agüero’s run towards goal. City were also denied two penalty appeals in the opening 45 minutes and Taylor spent large parts of the game with an incensed crowd reminding him of his alleged boyhood allegiances to Manchester United.
Ultimately, though, there was a reminder here that Guardiola’s team are going to find it difficult to win the league when they defend with so little cohesion. City have kept two clean sheets in the league and having taken the lead it must have been startling for their manager to see how they unravelled in the face of Chelsea’s superb counterattacking.
Costa began the comeback on the hour and the next two goals came from the kind of breakaway attacks that have exposed City on several occasions this season. At least there was some form of mitigation for Eden Hazard’s goal, with the clock ticking down and the home side left with no choice but to advance in numbers. Yet, from one penalty area to the other, Chelsea opened them up in a matter of seconds when the substitute Willian ran clear to give the visitors the lead. Chelsea played with the better structure, the clearer heads and a greater understanding of the wing-back system employed by both sides.
Hazard’s late finish confirmed an eighth successive league win, Chelsea’s best run for 10 years in a single season and that made it a desperately disappointing afternoon for City bearing in mind the home team led at half-time and had a golden opportunity, two minutes before Costa’s equaliser, to double their lead. Kevin De Bruyne could not keep his shot down, the ball came back off the crossbar and the remainder of the match merely re-iterated that Guardiola is still to get the balance right between attack and defence.
More than anything, City will look back to what happened on the half-hour mark when De Bruyne’s long pass sent Agüero chasing after two defenders and César Azpilicueta’s attempt to play the ball back to Thibaut Courtois fell short. Agüero would have fancied his chances in a sprint against David Luiz and his opponent seemed to realise it, leaning in with sufficient force to unbalance the striker, but also applying enough disguise to get away with it.
That was a key moment because if the free-kick had been given the next decision for Taylor would have been whether Agüero, running in diagonally 30 yards from goal, had been denied a clear scoring opportunity and, if so, Chelsea would have been down to 10 men.
Taylor had already given Cahill the benefit of the doubt after a handball inside the penalty area and the volume turned up again when N’Golo Kanté got away with a challenge on Ilkay Gündogan. Cahill’s own goal came shortly afterwards and Agüero might consider, on reflection, that Chelsea’s centre-half had suffered enough indignity without rubbing it in by patting him on his head as he ran away in celebration. Jesús Navas had supplied the cross and as own-goals go this one was spectacular – a twisting volley to redirect the ball beneath the joint of crossbar and post.
Costa’s equaliser was another demonstration of his ability to outmuscle opponents, on this occasion Nicolás Otamendi, before delivering a low right-foot shot past Claudio Bravo and from that point onwards it was the players wearing the darker shade of blue who looked like the more rounded side. Chelsea will enjoy the view from the top of the table.
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