The Japan Times - Man City rout Chelsea to close gap on leaders Arsenal

Pep Guardiola's side produced a devastating spell immediately after half-time, with Nico O'Reilly and Marc Guehi scoring in the space of six minutes at Stamford Bridge.

Jeremy Doku wrapped up a statement victory to ensure City took advantage of Arsenal's shock 2-1 home defeat against Bournemouth on Saturday.

Second-placed City are now only six points behind Arsenal with a game in hand, setting up a seismic showdown against the Gunners at the Etihad Stadium on April 19.

Having beaten Arsenal in the League Cup final and thrashed Liverpool in the FA Cup quarter-finals, City are hitting form at just the right time.

Their bid for a seventh English title under Guardiola appeared to be fading after successive draws with strugglers West Ham and Nottingham Forest in their previous two league matches.

A disjointed first half against Chelsea suggested City might waste a golden opportunity to pile pressure on Arsenal.

But Guardiola's half-time team-talk had the desired effect and City can now target next weekend's do-or-die visit from Mikel Arteta's spluttering team.

If City win that blockbuster clash, they will be within three points of Arsenal, who blew substantial leads in the 2023 and 2024 title races, allowing Guardiola's men to pip them to the trophy.

Arteta said the defeat to Bournemouth was a "punch in the face" and City's success in west London was another body blow for the Spaniard.

City have won 29 of their 32 league games in the month of April in recent seasons, underlining their ability to thrive when the title pressure mounts.

After winning their first four league matches following Liam Rosenior's arrival from Strasbourg to replace Enzo Maresca, Chelsea have won just one of their last seven, losing three in a row to leave the Blues boss facing some difficult questions.

Chelsea, who haven't beaten City since the 2021 Champions League final, were again without Enzo Fernandez after Rosenior's controversial decision to drop the Argentine midfielder for hinting he might leave in the summer.

- Cherki sparkles -

Sixth-placed Chelsea looked subdued without Fernandez and they trail four points behind Liverpool in the race to qualify for the Champions League via a top-five finish.

Lacking energy and cohesion in a sloppy start, City were fortunate not to fall behind when Marc Cucurella's clinical finish was disallowed for a tight offside.

City also let Pedro Neto in far too easily for a stinging strike that forced Gianluigi Donnarumma to save at his near post.

It took City 35 minutes to mount an incisive raid as Bernardo Silva stretched to meet O'Reilly's cross, but Robert Sanchez made a fine save from the midfielder's close-range effort.

But City stepped up after the interval and O'Reilly made the breakthrough in the 51st minute.

Rayan Cherki whipped an in-swinging cross towards O'Reilly and the City left-back reprised his League Cup final heroics with another clinical header from close range.

Six minutes later, Cherki again showed the creative genius that has won over Guardiola despite some impetuous moments in his first season in Manchester.

The France playmaker glided past a gaggle of Chelsea players on the edge of the area before threading a sublime pass to Guehi, who looked more like a forward than a centre-back as he smashed a perfect strike into the far corner from 12 yards.

City benefitted from wretched Chelsea defending for their third goal in the 68th minute.

Sanchez rolled the ball to Moises Caicedo even though the Chelsea midfielder was surrounded by three City players and Doku pounced, racing into the area to drill home as Guardiola celebrated a priceless result.

K.Okada--JT