Man City booked their place in the last 16 after a deserved victory over Chelsea. After a goalless first half which saw City dominate possession but Chelsea have the clearest chances, Riyad Mahrez's 53rd minute free-kick put the hosts ahead. Then, Julian Alvarez sealed the win five minutes later. Guardiola's side also had goalkeeper Stefan Ortega to thank as he pulled off numerous terrific saves to prevent Chelsea from getting on the scoresheet and the one time they did, it was offside.
Both teams made seven changes for the contest while Erling Haaland once again started on the bench for the hosts. Man City had the better of the opening exchanges and Jack Grealish hit an effort narrowly wide of the post. However, Chelsea actually looked the more dangerous and Pulisic would have put Chelsea ahead in the 13th minute had it not been for a superb save from Ortega from close range after a Ziyech cross.
City continued to enjoy long spells of possession, but Mendy in the Chelsea goal did not have to make a save until the 41st minute when Grealish tried to curl one into the corner. At the other end though, Ortega was a busy man. Pulisic once again had an opportunity midway through the first period which Ortega had to tip wide and then, right before half-time, Lewis Hall was denied by the stand in goalie after lovely link up play between Pulisic and Ziyech. It was goaless at the interval, but Chelsea had actually come the closest to scoring.
The second period saw the home side up their game and introduce Phillips and Bernardo Silva. Edouard Mendy was forced into saves in quick succession from Grealish and Mahrez, but Chelsea's resistance was broken in the 53rd minute in very avoidable fashion. Mahrez struck a free-kick from inside the D and the ball passed between Broja and Koulibaly in the wall as the Senegalese international inexplicably did not jump. That left Mendy for dead and rightly furious with Koulibaly.
With Chelsea 1-0 down, Potter's side had to take more risks and City made it two just before the hour mark on the counter. A long ball was played to Mahrez and even though Mendy was able to prevent the Algerian from scoring, he could do nothing about Julian Alvarez netting the rebound. It could have even been three had Mendy not denied Palmer from close range.
Chelsea had opportunities to pull one back and even made a quadruple substitution, but the few times they did attack, Ortega was at his very best. The German made a brilliant stop to deny 18 year-old Lewis Hall while Mason Mount scuffed his effort wide in the closing stages. Chelsea thought they had pulled one back in the 90th minute after a comical sequence of events which saw Sergio Gomez head onto his own post, but the offside flag was up and any hope of a Chelsea fightback was extinguished.
Man City are through to the last 16 after the World Cup and face Brentford in the league on Saturday while Chelsea travel to Newcastle on the same day in their final fixture before the mid-season stoppage.
November 9, 2022