Chelsea vs. Manchester City: Winners and Losers from Premier League
Manchester City cruised to victory at Stamford Bridge on Saturday, beating Chelsea by a 3-0 scoreline.
Both teams had early openings before City hit the first goal, with a counter-attack from a Chelsea corner ending with Sergio Aguero lashing home a deflected strike from the edge of the box.
The same player doubled the lead after half-time with a fine clipped finish and then netted his hat-trick from the penalty spot after Thibaut Courtois was sent off for a foul on Fernandinho late on.
Here are all our winners and losers from the game.
Winner: Kevin De Bruyne
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Kevin De Bruyne's return to fitness has been spectacular, with the Belgian immediately showing what City have been missing this term while he was out injured.
He was at his finest in the first half against Chelsea, making runs and finding spaces between the defence and midfield lines, playing quick passes and sprinting beyond the striker from time to time, with one such run early on almost leading to the opening goal.
Chelsea couldn't hold him down or stop his influence, and he, more than most, helped City grow into the game and dominate the middle third.
Loser: Diego Costa
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The teamsheets before kick-off showed Chelsea were indeed playing with a striker named Diego Costa, but you might not have noticed once the match kicked off.
Aside from a 10-minute spell early on, when the home side had plenty of the ball and created the early chances, including a Costa "goal" that had been pulled back for offside about 10 seconds before he netted, the Spain international contributed very, very little and was utterly unable to trouble the City back line.
The service to him was lacking other than a few Pedro forays down the left, in fairness, but Costa didn't hold the ball up well, didn't make runs in behind and rarely looked like a goal threat.
Winner: Sergio Aguero
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Of course, Sergio Aguero was a winner—the City striker was a menace all game long and ended up with a hat-trick for himself.
His movement and the timing of his runs behind the defence were exceptional throughout, while his first touch and ability to quickly get a shot away had already caused problems even before he opened the scoring.
A low strike, a cool clipped finish and a composed penalty did the damage, netting Aguero the treble. Sky Sports indicated live that even some Chelsea fans applauded him off when substituted late on in the game.
Loser: Cesc Fabregas
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If Costa was anonymous up front, Cesc Fabregas was every bit as disappointing in midfield.
He saw plenty of the ball but did next to nothing with it for his side. He was utterly overrun when City swarmed forward on the counter-attack or simply played through Chelsea's middle third under no pressure whatsoever.
In a game where Chelsea desperately lacked leaders or any sort of physical power to cope with City's fast counter-attacks, Fabregas was one of the more noticeable players floundering and looking well below his best level.
Winner: Aleksandar Kolarov
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City had several performers throughout the team who impressed, but left-back Aleksandar Kolarov was near the top of the bunch.
He raided forward to support buildup play on the overlap a number of times, taking advantage of space down the flank with Chelsea's Ruben Loftus-Cheek often tucked infield and Cesar Azpilicueta dragged out of position from right-back to the middle.
Kolarov's delivery was reasonably good, he defended well and he made two important interceptions inside his own six-yard box, and he showed pace and work rate to support counter-attacks throughout the game.
