City in total control over jaded Chelsea

London, Jan4

For a club that has spent £220 million in signing top players at the start of the season, their inconsistent performances have become a major concern.

Chelsea failed to recover after being overwhelmed 3-1 at home by a ruthless Manchester City and the defeat has increased the pressure on manager Frank Lampard who has now seen his team lose four and draw one in the last six matches.

Lampard claims worrying about being sacked will only derail him in his attempt to turn Chelsea around, but he said: “I will always feel the heat. I felt the heat when we were on our good run because I know that around the corner can be negative and we are not a team that has been churning out results. It is my job to focus on working on the players, not what the people above (club directors) are thinking – that would just distract me and I can’t do it.”

He added: “We went 16 games unbeaten and a month ago everyone was asking me about where we can go, where I am going to go, where is the new contract? Now people will be saying the opposite – I can’t control that. The pressure remains constant in this job and you know in tough moments that will be there. I have belief in this group (players). Any rebuild takes pain, pain behind the scenes and on the pitch. This is a difficult period.”

Chelsea were outplayed and outwitted throughout the match by a superbly disciplined City team. Although they began sprightly, they faded away under relentless pressure and City went into the lead after 18 minutes.

Oleksandr Zinchenko began the move, Phil Foden’s clever layoff found Ilkay Gundogan and he turned on the edge of the box to put his shot into the bottom corner.

Within the next three minutes came the second goal. Zinchenko and De Bruyne combined on the left to pass to Foden who was tackled by Thiago Silva but the ball went to De Bruyne whose low cross was smartly flicked inside the near post by Foden.

Chelsea were not allowed to settle with City enjoying much of the possession. They put the game beyond the home side with the third goal after 34 minutes.

The Blues, in a rare attacking mode, were caught from their own free-kick when the ball was headed out by De Bruyne and it sent Raheem Stirling racing clear with only N’golo Kante in the chase. Stirling rounded the Chelsea goalkeeper and curled a firm shot which hit the far post and rebounded to De Bruyne who reacted quickly to side-foot into the net.

Andy Jalil