Twitter: Chelsea Fans, Michael Ballack And Henry React To Luiz, Aguero And The Action Packed Encounter

Chelsea march with 8 wins on the bounce and stay put at the top of the table after securing a 3-1 victory over Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium. It was expected to be a cagey affair, looking at the quality flocked within both sides, and it certainly was, alongside a number of heaty moments that made the day more devastating for the home side.

A tweet that fits the bill:

Team selections wise, Antonio Conte made his first change after 7 matches, Fabregas in ahead of Nemanja Matic while Pep Guardiola employed a 3-4-3 formation, similar to their opponent.

The home team did make a livelier start, knocking onto Chelsea’s defensive wall, particularly on the right-hand side. Quick passes and movements across the attacking trident opened up gaps of the usually composed Chelsea backline. However, Hazard came the closest nearing the 15-minute mark, with a powerful low drive that was inches away from the bottom right corner of Bravo’s post. The first shot on target arrived in the 20^th minute from Sergio Aguero yet Thibaut Courtois tipped the Argentinean’s effort above the crossbar. Four minutes later, Fernandinho found the back of the net, following a beautiful free-kick from Kevin De Bruyne but was correctly ruled offside.

The first debate of the match sparked when David Luiz, who appeared to be the last man, nudged Aguero to ground, who was surging forward. While the home crowd were fuming, it didn’t compromise the referee to award a foul. On another day, the Brazilian could be easily shown a straight red card. Since then, The Citizens constantly piled the pressure on Chelsea’s defence and De Bruyne was at the heart of every move upfront. The Belgian swung in series of crosses into the box that caused the opponents to huff and puff yet they survived to keep their post shielded.

When it looked like the match will head to the interval goalless, Manchester City found the back of the net from Gary Cahill’s own goal. Resulting from a Jesus Navas pacy cross into the box, the skipper got the wrong foot up and the ball deflected off his shin while the goal guardian behind remained helpless.

The second half kicked off with equal tempo. While City were busy chasing a second goal, Fabregas pulled off his trademark long pass that found Costa in the penalty box, who jostled away the challenge of Stones and rifled in a strong low shot past Bravo. The Spaniard instantly leapt ahead of Aguero in the goal scorer chart with his 11th of the season.

Ten minutes from the equaliser, the man-mountain turned provider in a fluid counter attack when he released Willian with a brilliant pass, and the Brazilian stormed forward with sheer pace and arrowed a powerful shot past the unguarded Manchester City keeper.

From then, Guardiola’s men were finding a route to level the score to at least claim a single point yet Chelsea managed to repel off everything thrown at them. While the home team once again poured forward in numbers, a sudden break from Chelsea saw Marcos Alonso lofting a long ball upfield which found the path of Eden Hazard, who netted his 8^th goal of the season in the 90^th minute. Three shots on target, three goals for the away team.

While it looked like the Belgian’s goal was the climax of the match, Sergio Aguero, who missed a handful of decent chances earlier, unleashed his frustration with a wild lunge on David Luiz and was shown a straight red. It also quickly flickered a melee between the two sides and Fernandinho joined the marching order too. Besides ending the match pointless, Pep Guardiola needs to go through a number of matches without the services of his two starters.

In an overall picture, the Blues have sent out a title statement after easing through what should be a thorny run of fixtures.

Rounded up tweets from former players and fans too: