Manchester City’s Sergio Agüero hits hat-trick as Chelsea’s Courtois sees red
Chelsea 0 - 3 Man City
Premier League
Stamford Bridge
Chelsea 0
- Home team scorers
Man City 3
- Away team scorers
- Sergio Aguero 33
- Sergio Aguero 54
- Sergio Aguero 80 Pen
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Manchester City are finishing with a flourish. This was a comprehensive thrashing of a Chelsea side pining for the season to end, a humiliation imposed by Sergio Agüero’s hat-trick and inspired by the fluid invention and menace of Kevin De Bruyne, back in familiar territory and tormenting former team-mates. The hosts shuddered at the brutality of it all but when this City team click they can feel untouchable.
The frustration is that the charge is coming so late. A side and squad of this talent, capable of subjecting the faded champions to their first defeat here by three goals since Carlo Ancelotti’s team subsided to Sunderland in November 2010, should have made this title their own, for all the brilliance offered up by Leicester and Tottenham Hotspur above them and the injuries that have eaten at times into Manuel Pellegrini’s options.
That a three-match winning burst still leaves them 12 points from the summit damns management and playing staff but this was no time to complain. There was too much zip and pace to their performance in which to delight, with their attacking play irrepressible.
Agüero inevitably drew the focus with the sheer brilliance of his finishing, the hat-trick leaving him with 13 goals from his past 12 Premier League appearances and 21 in 26 for the campaign. He has achieved that tally in seven fewer league appearances than it has taken Jamie Vardy. Harry Kane has scored 22 over 33 games but, while both Englishmen have illuminated their respective teams’ campaigns, Agüero’s ruthless efficiency is eclipsed by none of his top-flight peers. In that context it is baffling he did not feature on the Professional Footballers’ Association six-man shortlist for the player of the year. “It’s very strange that Sergio has played here so many years and has not been [recognised as] the best player,” Pellegrini said. “I’m sure Sergio is the best striker in the league.”
Chelsea, shorn still of John Terry, could not cope with him. The Argentinian was for ever scuttling into space, unnerving his markers at will and finishing as crisply as ever, even if the supply line was key to his scoring. Samir Nasri enjoyed his best game of a season stunted by injury, while De Bruyne’s excellence had the locals chuntering in dismay that he was once one of their own. The Belgian had not previously returned to these parts since forcing through an £18m transfer to Wolfsburg, much to José Mourinho’s frustration, in January 2014. This was a display to justify the £55m price tag that accompanied his return to England, all clever movement and deceptive pace. Chelsea never came close to quelling his threat.
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It was the 24-year-old whose burst beyond Branislav Ivanovic and cutback almost presented Agüero with a third-minute tap-in, and his run between Baba Rahman and César Azpilicueta on to Yaya Touré’s perfectly measured pass forced Thibaut Courtois to save smartly with his right leg. The goalkeeper did well to deny Nasri, too but would not see out the contest, dismissed for the second time this term, for a professional foul on Fernandinho – the Belgian will miss the games with Bournemouth and Tottenham – with Agüero duly completing his hat-trick from the spot. By then the contest had long felt settled, the glum look on Roman Abramovich’s face as he played idly with his mobile phone up in his executive box summing up the local mood. This season cannot end soon enough.
Mismatches like this expose the size of the task awaiting Antonio Conte. Guus Hiddink suggested his team had been outdone “by smartness” rather than completely outplayed, pointing to City’s power on the counterattack, but that was a kind assessment. This was a fourth defeat in six games in all competitions as they meander uncharacteristically in mid-table. City were streetwise, a quality Chelsea once considered their own.
The ease with which the hosts were lacerated by City’s gallops upfield was disturbing, not least for the opening goal. It was Mikel John Obi who surrendered possession to Agüero at a corner before De Bruyne took over. He scorched away from Rahman and, having reached the penalty area unchecked, squared for the unmarked Agüero in the middle. The striker cut inside Gary Cahill and found the bottom corner via a deflection from the centre-half’s left boot.
The second was just as slickly taken, De Bruyne exploiting Azpilicueta’s hesitancy inside the City half to spring up-field and eventually clip Nasri free at his side. The Frenchman waited for Agüero to check his run and the forward’s 20th league goal of the season was converted crisply across Courtois.
Ruben Loftus-Cheek offered flashes of his quality in riposte and Nicolás Otamendi did hack a Pedro shot from the goalline but, even for the home team’s elder statesmen, this felt like an education.
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