The 6th gameweek of the 2021-22 Premier League season featured a mouth-watering clash between defending champions Manchester City and reigning European champions Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. Both of them have been regarded as the title contenders with Chelsea having supremely transformed under the tutelage of Thomas Tuchel.
Pep Guardiola was looking to exact a victory over Tuchel’s side having already lost three times to them last season which also included the Champions League final.
This tactical analysis discusses the tactics used by both teams and how Pep finally managed to get one over against Tuchel to take home three valuable points. Let’s begin the analysis.
Lineups
Chelsea made three changes to the lineup that beat Tottenham last weekend with a change in formation to a 3-5-2 shape that saw the likes of Mount and Havertz make way for NGolo Kante and Timo Werner. Reece James replaced Thiago Silva as the 3rd change.
Manchester City, on the other hand, made four changes to the lineup that was held to a stalemate by Southampton. Aymeric Laporte, Rodri, Kevin De Bruyne and Phil Foden replaced the likes of Nathan Ake, Fernandinho, Gundogan and Raheem Sterling as Pep decided to ring in changes ahead of an important UCL clash against PSG later in the week.
Chelsea struggles against Man City’s rotations
Guardiola decided to go into another game with Jesus away from the CF position and like in the previous games, he was given another chance as a right-wing forward ahead of Riyad Mahrez. Phil Foden was placed as the striker in the setup with the youngster acting as a false-nine in some situations.
