Algeria substitute Riyad Mahrez guided his reigning champions Manchester City to victory over Chelsea, scoring the only goal, 1-0, in the top of nineteen English Football League group stage matches, which they ended on Thursday.
Mahrez scored the three points three minutes after coming on for Portugal’s Bernardo Silva.
City II, with 39 points, continued to chase leaders Arsenal, narrowing the gap between them to five points, taking advantage of the Gunners’ goalless draw with Newcastle III on Tuesday.
Chelsea continued their run of disappointment after settling for a 1-1 draw with Nottingham Forest in the 18th stage at the start of the new year, sitting in tenth place on 25 points, ten points behind Manchester United IV, l last qualifying center for the Champions League competition.
Chelsea have also won just one of their last eight league games, which was a 2-0 win over Bournemouth.
The first half ends, with the extreme prudence of the two teams, violating only a few timid occasions, in the midst of a slight advantage in favor of Chelsea.
The advantage of the “Blues” came in the first half, despite the setback suffered at the beginning of the match, after the international duo, Raheem Sterling and the American Christian Pulisic, were injured and had not completed the match. so much so that his problems have increased with the absence of striker Mason Mount, Reese James, Ben Chilwell and Frenchman N’Golo Kante, through injury.
The city did not give up
Chelsea manager Graham Potter said in an interview with Sky Sports after the match: “We can’t complain about these injuries. We just have to adapt to the situation. The players on the pitch did everything we asked them to do.” and Manchester City did not give up.”
Just 5 minutes after kick-off, Sterling went off injured after an intervention by John Stones on him in midfield, before Pulisic, who was complaining of pain, came off after an intervention by Stones himself.
The home side nearly took the lead before the break after substitute Karney Chukwumica’s shot hit the post.
Spain’s City manager Pep Guardiola made a number of changes to his squad early in the second half, bringing in Swiss defender Manuel Akanji and Rico Luis in place of Kyle Walker and Portuguese Joao Cancelo.
City’s performance improved markedly after the substitutions and they almost scored the progress goal, but Aki’s shot rebounded off the post, then Belgian Kevin De Bruyne tried with a curled ball to shake the London club’s net, but his ball went far.
Guardiola continued his quick substitutions and pushed Algerian Mahrez and Jack Grealish, in what appeared to be an attempt to speed up his side’s attacking pace. Indeed, the visitors dominated possession and most of the encounter opportunities in the second half.
Guardiola’s substitutions led to the first goal, as Mahrez managed to open the scoring from Grealish’s cross 3 minutes after entering the green rectangle, and the Algerian national player struck a ball into the far corner to put City on the lead.
It seemed clear that Coach Potter’s team was unable to fight back, lacking effectiveness in the absence of his offensive arsenal. The substitutions he made by pushing Connor Calagher and Jamaican Louis Hall Amri Hutchinson didn’t work.
Despite Chelsea’s decline, they had a golden opportunity to equalize in the first minute of added time through Hull, but his shot went inches from the bar.
