How Manchester City’s brutal efficiency decimated Chelsea

The race for the Premier League title was almost over a few weeks ago when Manchester City lost to Newcastle. A few weeks later, everything looks different. Pep Guardiolas team are back on top, although they have played one game more than Liverpool. On Sunday, Liverpool hoped that the Citizens could struggle facing Chelsea and Maurizio Sarri.

However, Liverpool were left disappointed. Manchester City demonstrated their attacking strength and effectiveness by destroying Chelsea 6-0 at home. At this point of the season, City look like the most efficient attack in the whole of Europe. Besides Agüeros miss from about eight yards, Pep Guardiolas side used more or less every chance.

We have analysed Manchester City multiple times this season and are also uploading an analysis of the game from Chelseas point of view. Considering that Pep has experimented less this season I decided to analyse a few details to give you more insights into the strengths of the Citizens.

Lineups

The role of Gündogan

Looking at Guardiolas teams in Barcelona and especially Munich, you notice that the Catalan coach changed formations and roles more often. At City, he has decided to stick to his 4-1-4-1 most of the time. Although this makes City easier to read before the game, their attacking plays seem to be more consistent.

The challenge for most teams is the line-up Guardiola chooses before every game. Due to their different player types, Citys approach changes along with their players in midfield. Against the high pressing of Chelsea, Guardiola wanted to have an additional player in deeper zones supporting the build-up.

As a consequence, the former Dor