Manchester City Lose Cool as Worrying Home Form Continues in Chelsea Defeat

It may be early December, but Manchester City’s title-challenge is being tested to the full.

Having led at half time against a strong Chelsea side, Pep Guardiola’s team lost their heads and finished a tense encounter with nine men—having blown their top after falling 3-1 behind to an impressive comeback from Antio Conte’s side. It was an opportunity to stamp their authority on the Premier League, but it was missed badly.

The game descended into a farcical ending. City’s players, wound up by having lost control of a match they should have had in the bag after an hour, found themselves scrapping with their opponents on the pitch. Chelsea were perfectly happy to let them—and the prospect of a three-match ban for Fernandinho and a four-match suspension for Sergio Aguero now looms for City.

It was sparked by a horror-tackle from the Argentinian. Eden Hazard had netted in the closing stages to confirm the win and the ball broke for Aguero on the left flank. Faced one-on-one with Luiz, he overran it and lunged straight for the Chelsea defender. It wasn’t pretty and, as the referee brandished the red card, Aguero had no complaints.

Guardiola, however, stunned the press conference afterwards by claiming it wasn’t intentional when asked by reporters: “I don’t think so. Maybe I have to understand many things here about the referees.”

What followed the incident was a display of ill-discipline. In among a near 22-man brawl, Cesc Fabregas gave Fernandinho a tiny pat to the cheek—and that lit the touch-paper that resulted in the Brazilian’s dismissal. He too couldn’t complain, having twice grabbed the Spaniard around the throat and pushed him towards the advertising boards.

Petulance from City was the order of the day long before that. On the touchline, Guardiola hadn’t been happy with referee Anthony Taylor—and there was clearly a lot of ammunition for him to have fired at the official afterwards, but he chose only to pass comment indirectly. The manager had resorted to sarcastically fist-pumping and cheering when a decision went in his favour late on.

Before that, City had been denied a penalty when N’Golo Kante appeared to chop down Ilkay Gundogan inside the box. When Jesus Navas went over Gary Cahill’s outstretched leg, the home fans appealed for a spot-kick again—but nothing doing.

Taylor had already incurred the wrath of the crowd when Aguero was body-checked by David Luiz when clean through on goal—the official put his whistle to his mouth, his hand on his red card but then changed his mind when his linesman chose not to flag.

City’s players were so incensed by the decision that they almost conceded at the other end, as so many of …

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