Football news - Dire Chelsea suffer record Premier League defeat at Manchester City
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Updated 10/02/2019 at 22:38 GMT
Premier League, Etihad Stadium - Manchester City 6 (Sterling 4, 80, Aguero 13, 19, 56 (pen), Gundogan 25) Chelsea 0
Raheem Sterling of Manchester City celebrates after scoring his team's seventh goal with his team mates during the Premier League match between Manchester City and Chelsea FC at Etihad Stadium on February 9, 2019 in Manchester, United Kingdom.
Image credit: Getty Images
Sergio Aguero scored a landmark hat-trick as Manchester City stormed back to the top of the table courtesy of a thumping 6-0 victory over Chelsea at Etihad Stadium.
Pep Guardiola's side struck four times inside the opening 25 minutes and continued to attack a beleaguered Chelsea throughout as Maurizio Sarri's humiliated team shipped six goals in a Premier League match for the first time in their history.
Chelsea were thumped 4-0 at Bournemouth last month, a result that equalled their 5-1 loss to Liverpool in September 1996, but this one obliterates those defeats from the record books.
Raheem Sterling opened the scoring after four minutes and City should have been further ahead four minutes later when Aguero somehow contrived to fire wide of an open net from five yards out.
The Argentine striker's afternoon got much better soon after, however, curving home a sublime 25-yard effort before poaching a third to become City's all-time leading league scorer.
Ilkay Gundogan added the fourth from 20 yards on 25 minutes before Aguero claimed his 11th top-flight treble for City from the spot, to equal Alan Shearer's Premier League record.
Sterling notched his second of the afternoon late on as the Citizens moved above Liverpool courtesy of a much improved goal difference, having played a game more. The Merseysiders' game in hand is away to a rejuvenated Manchester United on February 24 - the same day City face Chelsea in the League Cup final.
Sarri's men drop to sixth as a result of the heavy loss, one point adrift of the top four. The Italian coach will face more difficult questions in the aftermath of such an alarming result, with his future at the club likely to be debated in the media.
Next Saturday, City continue their quest for glory on all four fronts when they visit Newport County in the fifth round of the FA Cup. Chelsea host Manchester United in the tie of the round a week on Monday, but must first turn their attention to Thursday's Europa League clash at Malmo.
TALKING POINT City's slickers lay down the gauntlet
City signed off from Premier League duty for a few weeks with a statement victory that heaps huge pressure on Liverpool to get a result when they play their game in hand at Manchester United in a fortnight. That match looks a very different proposition than it did a couple of months back for Jurgen Klopp's men, as the Red Devils continue to flourish under caretaker boss Ole Gunnar Solsjkaer.
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Sterling celebrates against Chelsea
Image credit: Getty Images
It could yet be a significant day in City's season too, as they will be hoping they are celebrating a Liverpool slip and their first silverware when they meet Chelsea in the League Cup final later that afternoon.
In the meantime, Guardiola's men could intensify talk of winning an unprecedented quadruple. No-one is expecting Newport to spring a surprise of mammoth proportions, and looking at the sides remaining in the FA Cup, City will strongly fancy their chances of lifting it come May.
Likewise, Schalke probably won't have enough to stop a City side in this type of form from taking an important step towards the last eight of the Champions League. Indeed, come the home league clash with West Ham on February 27, City could be back in the driving seat on all fronts as they head into the business end of the campaign at a scintillatingly high level.
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Maurizio Sarri, Guardiola - Manchester City-Chelsea - Premier League 2018/2019 - Getty Images
Image credit: Getty Images
MAN OF THE MATCH Sergio Aguero (Man City)
It was another day collecting records for the City No.10 who is surely in the running for PFA Player of the Year. Not a bad 65-minute run out for the in-form forward, who took his tally to 23 for the season and made it nine goals in his last six outings.
PLAYER RATINGS
- MANCHESTER CITY: Ederson 7, Walker 7, Stones 7, Laporte 7, Zinchenko 8, Gundogan 8, Fernandinho 8, Bernardo Silva 8, Sterling 9, De Bruyne 8, Aguero 9..subs: Jesus 6, Mahrez 6, David Silva 6
- CHELSEA: Kepa 5, Alonso 5, Luiz 5, Rudiger 5, Azpilicueta 5, Jorginho 5, Kante 6, Barkley 5, Pedro 6, Hazard 6, Higuain 5..subs: Kovacic 6, Loftus-Cheek 6, Emerson 5
KEY MOMENTS
- 4' - GOAL! Man City 1-0 Chelsea. Sterling arrives at the far post to hammer a rising shot into the net after Bernardo Silva had ghosted into space down the right and cut it back across goal.
- 8' - MAN CITY CHANCE! City carve Chelsea open once more. Bernardo Silva can't get his shot away but works his way to the left byline and cuts it across for Aguero, who somehow fails to convert at the far post.
- 13' - GOAL! Man City 2-0 Chelsea. What a start for the home side. Aguero picks up the ball 25 yards out and fires an wonderful, curling strike into the top corner.
- 19' - GOAL! Man City 3-0 Chelsea. Barkley makes a real error when he heads Luiz's attempted clearance back into the danger zone where Aguero spins brilliantly and sweeps home from close range.
- 25' - GOAL! Man City 4-0 Chelsea. Gundogan gets in on the act as he rifles a first-time effort into the far corner from just outside the area. City are rampant.
- 51' - MAN CITY CHANCE! Aguero meets a left-wing cross but sees his thumping header ping back off the crossbar.
- 56' - GOAL! Man City 5-0 Chelsea. Aguero grabs his hat-trick from the spot as he coolly sends Kepa the wrong way.
- 80' - GOAL! Man City 6-0 Chelsea. Sterling is on hand to make it six as he sweeps home Zinchenko's low ball into area.
KEY STATS
- Aguero became the fifth player to score hat-tricks in consecutive home Premier League games and the first since Didier Drogba in August 2010.
- Agüero scored his 11th Premier League hat-trick, equalling Alan Shearer as the player to net the most PL hat-tricks.
- Chelsea are winless in seven Premier League away fixtures against established top-six rivals, losing each of the last five.
- This was Chelsea’s 1,070th game since they last conceded 6 goals in the league, which was in a 7-0 Division 1 defeat at Brian Clough’s Nottingham Forest in April 1991.
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