Manchester City sparked the Premier League title battle with a second-half blitz that earned a 3-0 victory against Chelsea, closing the distance on leaders Arsenal on Sunday.
Pep Guardiola’s side had a devastating run shortly after halftime, with Nico O’Reilly and Marc Guehi scoring within six minutes at Stamford Bridge.
Jeremy Doku sealed a statement victory for City, capitalizing on Arsenal’s humiliating 2-1 home setback to Bournemouth on Saturday.
Second-placed City are currently only six points behind Arsenal with a game in hand, setting up a tense clash at the Etihad Stadium on April 19.
City are in excellent form, having defeated Arsenal in the League Cup final and demolished Liverpool in the FA Cup quarter-finals.
Their hopes of winning a seventh English crown under Guardiola appeared to be dwindling after two consecutive league draws against struggling West Ham and Nottingham Forest.
A fragmented first half against Chelsea hinted City could squander a golden opportunity to put pressure on Arsenal.
But Guardiola’s half-time team talk had the right effect, and City can now focus on next weekend’s do-or-die visit from Mikel Arteta’s struggling club.
If City wins that match, they will be within three points of Arsenal, who blew significant leads in the 2023 and 2024 title campaigns, allowing Guardiola’s side to take the trophy.
The defeat to Bournemouth was a “punch in the face” for Arteta, and City’s victory in west London was another body blow.
The city has won 29 of their 32 league games in April in recent years, demonstrating their capacity to thrive as title pressure mounts.
Following Liam Rosenior’s arrival from Strasbourg to replace Enzo Maresca, Chelsea have won only one of their past seven league games, losing three in a row, leaving the Blues manager with some difficult questions.
Chelsea, who have not beaten City since the 2021 Champions League final, were again without Enzo Fernandez following Rosenior’s controversial decision to remove the Argentine midfielder for implying he would depart in the summer.
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 Manchester City stepped up after the interval, and O’Reilly made the breakthrough in the 51st minute.
Rayan Cherki whipped an inswinging 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 center-back as he smashed a perfect strike into the far corner from 12 yards.
In the 68th minute, Manchester City took advantage of Chelsea’s poor defending to score their third goal.
Sanchez slid the ball to Moises Caicedo despite the Chelsea midfielder being covered by three City players, and Doku pounced, running into the area to score as Guardiola celebrated a precious victory.
