Manchester City’s Sergio Agüero hits hat-trick as Chelsea’s Courtois sees red
Chelsea 0 - 3 Man City
Premier League
Stamford Bridge
Chelsea 0
- Home team scorers
Man City 3
- Away team scorers
- Sergio Aguero 33
- Sergio Aguero 54
- Sergio Aguero 80 Pen
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Manchester City
are finishing with a flourish. This was a comprehensive thrashing of a
Chelsea side pining for the season to end, a humiliation imposed by
Sergio Agüero’s hat-trick and inspired by the fluid invention and menace
of Kevin De Bruyne, back in familiar territory and tormenting former
team-mates. The hosts shuddered at the brutality of it all but when this
City team click they can feel untouchable.
The frustration is that the charge is coming so late. A side and
squad of this talent, capable of subjecting the faded champions to their
first defeat here by three goals since Carlo Ancelotti’s team subsided
to Sunderland in November 2010, should have made this title their own,
for all the brilliance offered up by Leicester and Tottenham Hotspur
above them and the injuries that have eaten at times into Manuel
Pellegrini’s options.
That a three-match winning burst still leaves them 12 points from the
summit damns management and playing staff but this was no time to
complain. There was too much zip and pace to their performance in which
to delight, with their attacking play irrepressible.
Agüero inevitably drew the focus with the sheer brilliance of his
finishing, the hat-trick leaving him with 13 goals from his past 12 Premier League
appearances and 21 in 26 for the campaign. He has achieved that tally
in seven fewer league appearances than it has taken Jamie Vardy. Harry
Kane has scored 22 over 33 games but, while both Englishmen have
illuminated their respective teams’ campaigns, Agüero’s ruthless
efficiency is eclipsed by none of his top-flight peers. In that context
it is baffling he did not feature on the Professional Footballers’
Association six-man shortlist for the player of the year. “It’s very
strange that Sergio has played here so many years and has not been
[recognised as] the best player,” Pellegrini said. “I’m sure Sergio is
the best striker in the league.”
Chelsea, shorn still of John Terry, could not cope with him. The
Argentinian was for ever scuttling into space, unnerving his markers at
will and finishing as crisply as ever, even if the supply line was key
to his scoring. Samir Nasri enjoyed his best game of a season stunted by
injury, while De Bruyne’s excellence had the locals chuntering in
dismay that he was once one of their own. The Belgian had not previously
returned to these parts since forcing through an £18m transfer to
Wolfsburg, much to José Mourinho’s frustration, in January 2014. This
was a display to justify the £55m price tag that accompanied his return
to England, all clever movement and deceptive pace. Chelsea never came close to quelling his threat.
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It
was the 24-year-old whose burst beyond Branislav Ivanovic and cutback
almost presented Agüero with a third-minute tap-in, and his run between
Baba Rahman and César Azpilicueta on to Yaya Touré’s perfectly measured
pass forced Thibaut Courtois to save smartly with his right leg. The
goalkeeper did well to deny Nasri, too but would not see out the
contest, dismissed for the second time this term, for a professional
foul on Fernandinho – the Belgian will miss the games with Bournemouth
and Tottenham – with Agüero duly completing his hat-trick from the spot.
By then the contest had long felt settled, the glum look on Roman
Abramovich’s face as he played idly with his mobile phone up in his
executive box summing up the local mood. This season cannot end soon
enough.
Mismatches like this expose the size of the task awaiting Antonio
Conte. Guus Hiddink suggested his team had been outdone “by smartness”
rather than completely outplayed, pointing to City’s power on the
counterattack, but that was a kind assessment. This was a fourth defeat
in six games in all competitions as they meander uncharacteristically in
mid-table. City were streetwise, a quality Chelsea once considered
their own.
The ease with which the hosts were lacerated by City’s gallops
upfield was disturbing, not least for the opening goal. It was Mikel
John Obi who surrendered possession to Agüero at a corner before De
Bruyne took over. He scorched away from Rahman and, having reached the
penalty area unchecked, squared for the unmarked Agüero in the middle.
The striker cut inside Gary Cahill and found the bottom corner via a
deflection from the centre-half’s left boot.
The second was just as slickly taken, De Bruyne exploiting
Azpilicueta’s hesitancy inside the City half to spring up-field and
eventually clip Nasri free at his side. The Frenchman waited for Agüero
to check his run and the forward’s 20th league goal of the season was
converted crisply across Courtois.
Ruben Loftus-Cheek offered flashes of his quality in riposte and
Nicolás Otamendi did hack a Pedro shot from the goalline but, even for
the home team’s elder statesmen, this felt like an education.
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