Pep Breaks Tuchel Jinx With 1-0 Victory

Pep Guardiola would finally be a relieved man after seeing his wards pip Chelsea 1-0 at Stamford Bridge and his first win over his German counterpart in their last four meetings.

Tuchel had emerged victorious between the two in their last three meetings, most prominently in the Champions League final last season to further extend Guardiola's wait for a Champions League trophy with Manchester City.

Both teams came into the game boasting of the best defensive records in the league this season alongside Liverpool, having all conceded just one goal each.

The visitors were the more comfortable team in the opening exchanges, with Chelsea reminiscent of old times, preferring to soak the pressure and hit on the counter.

Timo Werner showed the first threat for Chelsea when in the 19th minute, he cut onto his right foot to release a shot, which was blocked off by the back of Kyle Walker.

Thomas Tuchel had to re-strategize as he was forced to make an early substitution in the 29th minute, taking off Reece James for Thiago Silva, after the former had picked up an injury and the latter slotting into the middle of a back three, allowing Cesar Azpilicueta to move out on the right.

Jack Grealish and Rodri combined well with a one-two play at the other end, before the England international's shot was headed over the bar by Antonio Rudiger.

Both sides struggled to create clear-cut chances and reduced each other to half chances, albeit, City as expected saw more of the ball. Chelsea were, however, not in their usual high pressing and charging mode that they have been known for since the arrival of Tuchel.

It almost paid off for City in the 34th minute when Phil Foden's corner kick was headed goalwards by Ruben Dias, but was cleared off the line by Silva. Werner wanted to hit on the counterattack, but ended up losing the ball on the edge of his own box, allowing Foden drive towards the byline and whip in a cross that was eventually cleared by Jorginho.

Guardiola's men kept the pressure on. Restricted to long range efforts, Kevin De Bruyne tried his luck from about 20 yards out but his effort was way over the bar, before Gabriel Jesus saw his left-footed effort drift away from goal.

The first half was deprived of goalscoring chances and both teams needed to improve after the interval if they were to get something out of the fixture.

Moments after Grealish failed to find the bottom corner with his effort, Jesus gave City a deserving lead. A short corner from the visitors gave Joao Camcelo space from about 30 yards out. The Portugese defender tried from range, but his effort was deflected into the path of Jesus, who tries to evade challenges, before firing a low strike that takes a little deflection on its way into the back of the net.

It should have been two for City less than five minutes later, but Benjamin Mendy had to make a crucial fingertip save to deny Grealish from his low effort.

Another glorious opportunity to increase the lead fell to City just after the hour mark. A fine run from Cancelo down the left saw him release a disturbing cross into the box and towards Foden, which was parried away from the English man by Mendy, but only unto the path of Jesus. The Brazilian hits a hard low shot, but saw his compatriot, Silva make a goal line clearance to keep the score at 1-0.

And, less than 60 seconds later, Chelsea got the ball into the net through Romelu Lukaku, but the goal was rightly ruled offside after replay showed that Kai Havertz, who supplied the ball to Lukaku was offside when he recievd the offload from Marcos Alonso.

Chelsea have Mendy to thank for keeping the scoreline slim as the Senegalese stopper made himself big in the 83rd minute to deny Grealish, who was released on goal by Foden as City grabbed a hard-earned three points.

Concluding Thoughts

Guardiola threw all his arsenal at this one, not wanting to lose to the same man four times in a row and it must said to have paid off.

It was a far cry from expectations prior to the match with Chelsea sitting deep and City unable to break them down.

It was definitely a disappointing performance by Chelsea as they failed to register a single shot on target, Tuchel can still take consolation in the fact that it is their only loss of the season yet and they may not have been a better opposition to lose to than City.