Chelsea are now four points adrift of the Premier League’s fifth and final Champions League spot after losing 3-0 at home to Manchester City on Sunday. Liverpool’s victory against Fulham on Saturday meant the Blues needed to win to keep pace with their top-five rivals, but Liam Rosenior’s side fell apart in the second half at Stamford Bridge and are now only three points inside the top half of the table altogether.
Chelsea had the ball in the net inside 16 minutes after Joao Pedro danced his way past several City defenders before slipping through Marc Cucurella to finish, but the goal was chalked off for a marginal offside call.
Five minutes into the second half, the hosts fell behind. A delectable cross from Rayan Cherki found left-back Nico O’Reilly, who had evaded the marking of Andrey Santos and crashed in a header.
Soon after, Chelsea found themselves two goals down. Cherki was once more the architect, dribbling his way into the box from a corner and playing in Marc Guehi with a clever pass between two defenders, and the City centre-back found the bottom corner with a shot befitting a striker.
It went from bad to worse for Rosenior’s side when City then added a third. Moises Caicedo cheaply surrendered possession to Jeremy Doku on the edge of his own box and the Belgian was able to slot past Robert Sanchez at the near post.
Chelsea’s rotten afternoon was brought to an end after eight minutes of added time as City stole the spoils, with the home fans who hadn’t made an early exit booing their side off at the whistle.
GOAL rates Chelsea’s players from Stamford Bridge…
