MANCHESTER, United Kingdom —
Manchester City took another huge step towards retaining the Premier League title as one
moment of inspiration from
Kevin De Bruyne saw off
Chelsea 1-0 to open up a
13-point lead at the top of the table.
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A game of few chances was brought to life by
the Belgian 20 minutes from time as he curled home the only goal from outside
the box to seal a 12th consecutive league win for the champions.
Chelsea got the better of Pep Guardiola's
men in last season's Champions League final, but securing their place in
Europe's top club competition next season now looks like the height of their
ambitions for the rest of the
Premier League season.
The Blues remain second but have won just
one of their last six league games.
Four of the five meetings between the sides
since Thomas Tuchel took charge of Chelsea have been won by a single goal and
another cagey encounter ensued.
City dominated possession but struggled to
open up a makeshift Chelsea defense featuring second-choice goalkeeper
Kepa Arrizabalaga and
Malang Sarr on just his second Premier League appearance.
Indeed City's one clear chance before the
break came from a Chelsea mistake.
Mateo Kovacic's pass deflected off De Bruyne
into the path of Jack Grealish, but the most expensive English player of
all-time missed the chance to mark his biggest moment yet as a City player as
his shot was turned behind by Arrizabalaga.
Chelsea's own record signing Romelu Lukaku
has had a similar underwhelming impact to Grealish.
The Belgian started for the fourth
consecutive game since being dropped for a crucial clash against Liverpool
earlier in the month for voicing his unhappiness at Stamford Bridge to Italian
media.
Lukaku also had a huge chance to silence his
critics early in the second half when he was picked out by Kovacic, but Ederson
raced from his goal and made a fine save to low to his right.
Chelsea's title challenge has faltered since
losing the threat of wing-backs Ben Chilwell and Reece James to long-term
injuries.
Chilwell's understudy Marcos Alonso was
given a torrid time by Raheem Sterling, but the England international lacked
the finishing touch as he pulled a shot just wide after jinking past the Spaniard.
A top-of-the-table clash lacked the
accompanying atmosphere for most of the match at a subdued Etihad.
However, the crowd were brought to their
feet by the game's outstanding moment as De Bruyne delivered what could be the
knock out blow in the title race.
He held off the challenge of
N'Golo Kante to
spin onto Joao Cancelo's pass before picking out the bottom left-hand corner of
Arrizabalaga's net.
Chelsea were unable to offer any response as
they chased City shadows and could have lost by a more comprehensive scoreline.
Phil Foden shot over from Sterling's
cut-back, but one goal was all they needed to tighten their grip on a fourth
league title in five years.
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