Chelsea 0-1 Man City: Super subs Grealish & Mahrez send City 5pts behind Arsenal

Manchester City closed the gap on Premier League leaders Arsenal to five points with victory over injury-ravaged Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.

The reigning champions struggled in the first half before two of manager Pep Guardiola's substitutes combined to break the deadlock after 63 minutes, Riyad Mahrez turning in Jack Grealish's low cross at the far post.

Chelsea enjoyed the better of the first half despite adding both former City forward Raheem Sterling and Christian Pulisic to a lengthening injury list, substitute Carney Chukwuemeka hitting the post from the edge of the area.

Graham Potter will justifiably point to Chelsea's ill-luck with absentees but the bottom line is this defeat leaves them in the unaccustomed position of 10th, 10 points off the Champions League places.

City, meanwhile, will be happy to get three points despite being nowhere near their best and on a rare night when scoring machine Erling Haaland failed to hit the target.

Match Events

2' Sterling goes off injured

21' Chukwuemeka in, injured Pulisic out

32' Gundogan’s shot wide out

37' CHANCE! Haaland's shot over the bar

43' OFF THE POST! Chukwumeka

50' OFF THE POST! Ake

55' CLOSE! Thiago Silva’s shot wide out

59' CLOSE! De Bruyne’s shot wide out

62' GOAL! Chelsea 0-1 Man City (Mahrez)

72' CLOSE! Haaland misses a golden chance!

Line-ups

Chelsea XI: Kepa, Azpilicueta, Koulibaly, Silva, Cucurella, Zakaria, Kovacic, Ziyech, Sterling, Havertz, Pulisic

Subs: Bettinelli, Aubameyang, Chalobah, Gallagher, Chukwuemeka, Hutchinson, Hall, Humphreys, Jorginho

Man City XI: Ederson, Walker, Stones, Ake, Cancelo, Rodri, Silva, De Bruyne, Gundogan, Haaland, Foden

Subs: Ortega, Lewis, Phillips, Akanji, Mahrez, Alvarez, Gomez, Grealish, Palmer