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Kevin De Bruyne accepts the congratulations from Jack Grealish
Photo: PETER POWELL/ REUTERS
First versus second, a repeat of last season's Champions League final, duel between the coaching brains Pep Guardiola and Thomas Tuchel – expectations could not have been higher before the Manchester City game against Chelsea.
But the Premier League's top game on Matchday 22 was disappointing.
Because it was too one-sided.
The game only ended 1-0, but that didn't adequately reflect the superiority of the league leaders.
A dream goal from Kevin De Bruyne in the 70th minute decided the game, City are now 13 points ahead of London.
This is more than a preliminary decision in the title fight.
City dominated the game almost at will from the start.
The London guests, without Kai Havertz and Timo Werner, but with Antonio Rüdiger in the starting XI, had almost nothing to oppose in terms of offensive efforts.
Star striker Romelu Lukaku had no attachment to the game or teammates and was completely up in the air.
But Manchester also found it difficult to create scoring chances – despite a clear playful superiority.
It lasted until the 39th minute, but then City should have taken the lead.
England international Jack Grealish benefited from a hair-raising miss from Mateo Kovacic in Chelsea cover, suddenly found himself free in front of goal and failed to put the ball past goalkeeper Kepa into the net.
After the change, it would have suddenly come almost to the guest leadership.
Lukaku once used a lack of attention in defense, but this time the goalkeeper was the winner in a duel.
Ederson saved his team from falling behind.
The game became a little more open, but that didn't change the dominance of the hosts.
However, also because there were hardly any scoring opportunities for City.
The Chelsea defense around Rüdiger hardly allowed any mistakes.
In the 68th minute, Raheem Sterling just missed the goal, that was the signal for the light blues to start the final offensive.
Three minutes later, De Bruyne elegantly curled the ball from the edge of the penalty area into the far corner, breaking the spell.
Aha