Manchester City 3 Chelsea 0: City player ratings as City pile the pressure onto Arsenal

Manchester City 3 Chelsea 0: City player ratings as City pile the pressure onto Arsenal Manchester City 3 (Nico O’Reilly 51′ Marc Guehi 57′, Jeremy Doku 68′) Chelsea 0 Here are the City player ratings as Manchester City upped the ante after halftime to beat Chelsea 3-0 at Stamford Bridge earlier today. The win sees Pep Guardiola’s side move to within six points of Arsenal as Manchester City seized the opportunity to build real pressure on Arsenal after Mikel Arteta’s side were beaten by Bournemouth yesterday. City now sit six points behind Arsenal with a game in hand, and they host the Premier League leaders next Sunday at the Etihad in what looms as a season-defining match next weekend.

Today’s match was a tale of two halves, to borrow a football cliché. Chelsea thought they opened the scoring in the 16th minute through a smart finish by Marc Cucurella. But the Spanish international had strayed offside in the build-up, and his goal was ruled out.

Three minutes later, Gianluigi Donnarumma made a strong save to deny Pedro Neto as the Italian international showed he was the keeper for the big occasion. Chelsea keeper Robert Sanchez denied Bernardo Silva on the half-hour mark after a neat move between Jeremy Doku and Nico O’Reilly saw O’Reilly play in a cross from the left that found Bernardo Silva, but Sanchez kept out Bernardo’s attempt at goal out with a smart save at his near post. A 20-yard strike from Rayan Cherki and a deflected strike that went just wide from Antoine Semenyo were the best chances for Manchester City to open the scoring in the first half.

Pep Guardiola’s side did grow into the game in the first half, but the game went to the interval at nil-all. Manchester City up the ante after halftime to blow Chelsea away. It was Nico O’Reilly who opened the scoring five minutes after halftime.