Chelsea 0 Manchester City 2: tactical analysis

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Manchester City began their pursuit of a fifth consecutive Premier League title by easing to victory at Chelsea. It was a Stamford Bridge match-up that pitted Pep Guardiola’s team against a home side now led by one of his former assistants, Enzo Maresca. The Italian coach and his Chelsea players are certain to face less taxing opposition as the season unfolds, but nonetheless will have been disappointed not to have laid a glove on the champions. Not least because City started the game without Rodri, Phil Foden, Kyle Walker and John Stones, albeit with more than able replacements available.

Erling Haaland scored City’s first Premier League goal of the season for the third consecutive year – his 91st goal for the club in 100 appearances. Shortly before half-time, Nicolas Jackson put the ball in the back of the net for Chelsea, after Ederson had made a hash of a Cole Palmer shot. The Senegal forward, however, had strayed offside. Mateo Kovacic then secured the points with a curled shot on 84 minutes, as City shrugged off the absence of Rodri. That made it City’s first Premier League away win without their influential Spanish midfielder since February 2022, having lost four on the spin without him.

How the managers saw it

“I thought our performance was good,” said Maresca. “We competed against the best team in the world and we competed for large parts at the same level, and in some moments were even better. We created chances, and I think the big difference between us and them was especially in the box and the way they managed the ball in the last parts of the game. But they are masters at that.”

“We have to behave like we were, a champion team,” said Guardiola. “Especially in the bad moments, I like to see that. I said we would have to suffer, this defines the best teams. In the bad moments, we were composed and we did it.”

Starting line-ups

ChelseaManchester City

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Chelsea4-2-3-1

Manchester City4-1-4-1

1Robert Sánchez

31Ederson

3Marc Cucurella

82Rico Lewis

6Levi Colwill

25Manuel Akanji

29Wesley Fofana

3Rúben Dias

27Malo Gusto

24Josko Gvardiol

45Roméo Lavia

8Mateo Kovacic

25Moisés Caicedo

11Jérémy Doku

18Christopher Nkunku

20Bernardo Silva

8Enzo Fernández

17Kevin De Bruyne

20Cole Palmer

26Savinho

15Nicolas Jackson

9Erling Haaland

City’s three number 10s

Instead of City’s double-pivot conversion from last season, right-back Rico Lewis moved into midfield and took up higher positions than had he worked alongside their pivot, Mateo Kovacic. As such, Lewis positioned himself alongside number 10s Kevin De Bruyne and Bernardo Silva, working in between the two wingers, as City formed a 3-1-5-1 shape in possession. Silva initially stayed central to link with Haaland, while Lewis and De Bruyne combined wider, with wingers Jérémy Doku and Savinho, who attacked around rather than inside. De Bruyne drifted wider on the left than Lewis, though. The latter’s number-eight runs inside Marc Cucurella (below) caused Chelsea problems.

With Doku and Savinho’s initial attacks around the outside failing to yield chances, they then swapped sides. From there, they could cut in on to their stronger foot and combine inside. Almost immediately, City’s attacks had more purpose.

By combining back inside, De Bruyne and Silva became much more influential. The latter linked with Haaland, who clipped the ball past Sanchez to put City ahead. When Chelsea tried to defensively overload the spaces around City’s 10s (below), the visitors then switched the play to their opposite winger with ease, and attacked from there.

Although City didn’t create lots of second-half chances, they did control large periods. Crucially, they recognised when Chelsea were gaining momentum, managed the ball superbly, and took the sting out of the home side.

Silva dropped deeper to work alongside Kovacic in supporting the back line. Lewis started deeper too, to help the team build with a back four, before then repositioning to become a number eight alongside De Bruyne (below). This central quartet controlled the ball from there, with Lewis and Silva particularly adaptable. Kovacic’s regain, drive and powerful shot doubled City’s lead late on, as they saw the game out with the ball.

Breaking City’s mid-block

Chelsea set up in a 4-2-3-1, but despite all their possession in the first period, created few clear-cut chances. Enzo Fernández operated as the number 10 underneath Nicolas Jackson, with Roméo Lavia and Moisés Caicedo as the double pivot. Malo Gusto looked to advance forward where possible, allowing Cole Palmer to readjust into positions between the lines (below). However, City’s 4-1-4-1 block did well to screen and block access into this particular rotation.

Gusto began to move inside from right-back, especially either side of half-time. This helped overload City’s three-player midfield, but also isolated Palmer against his marker, with bigger spaces to attack (below). As a result City’s midfield line became narrower, unsure whether to fully track Gusto or help cover and overload Palmer.

From here, Chelsea found their best spell of momentum, playing forward with more purpose and breaking lines to find their attacking players higher up the pitch. With only the odd chance coming from this – and Palmer eventually moving back inside – Chelsea’s inability to convert from their best spell would cost them.

Maresca made multiple substitutions to add Pedro Neto, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and Marc Guiu to the front line. Fernandez then dropped into a pivot role, with Neto holding the width on the left. He looked to attack Lewis as directly as possible, ideally taking advantage of the City right-back recovering back into his defensive position. Palmer moved inside permanently, as a second 10, while Dewsbury-Hall positioned himself in the left inside-channel, providing support around and alongside Neto (below).

Whenever the more central Palmer got on the ball, Chelsea maintained momentum, with some positive flashes from the home side. But that inability to convert meant it ended as a somewhat chastening start to the 2024/25 season for Enzo Maresca’s Blues.

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Author: The Coaches' Voice