Chelsea 0-1 Man City player ratings: youngsters impress in loss

Chelsea players pay tribute to Brazilian football legend Pele, who died on December 29, 2022 ahead of the during the English Premier League football match vs Manchester City (Photo by GLYN KIRK/IKIMAGES/AFP via Getty Images)
Chelsea players pay tribute to Brazilian football legend Pele, who died on December 29, 2022 ahead of the during the English Premier League football match vs Manchester City (Photo by GLYN KIRK/IKIMAGES/AFP via Getty Images)
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Chelsea
Chelsea players pay tribute to Brazilian football legend Pele, who died on December 29, 2022 ahead of the during the English Premier League football match vs Manchester City (Photo by GLYN KIRK/IKIMAGES/AFP via Getty Images)

The game started in the worst possible way for Chelsea as Raheem Sterling had to be taken off due to a hamstring injury in the opening couple of minutes. You could see that the Blues were playing with caution when in possession so chance creation was rare early on but whenever CFC came forward they looked dangerous. But again disaster struck as a last ditch tackle from John Stones caught Christian Pulisic and he too was forced off with injury in the21st minute. From then till half time, Chelsea seemed to be the better side and were almost rewarded but the substitute Carney Chukwuemeka’s effort got deflected and struck the post just before half time.

Manchester City started the second half with a bang and almost scored the first goal as Nathan Ake hit the post with a header from De Bruyne’s delivery. But regular substitutions turned the tidy into the visitor’s favour as Jack Grealish and Riyad Mahrez combined to give City the lead in the 63rd minute. From then on it seemed that Chels’ would just buckle under yet the introduction of youngsters like Lewis Hall, Omari Hutchinson and Conor Gallagher lifted their spirits. Hall even came close to equalizing in the dying minutes of the game, only to sky his effort wide.