Chelsea hosted arch-rivals and defending champions Manchester City at Stamford Bridge on Matchday 6 of the 2021/22 Premier League season. The Blues were top of the table and unbeaten going into this game and were three points ahead of Pep Guardiola’s Man City. The rivalry between Thomas Tuchel’s Chelsea and Pep Guardiola and his Manchester City has been growing since Tuchel arrived at the Bridge in January this year. Tuchel defeated Guardiola thrice in the second half of the 20/21 season, including a win in the UEFA Champions League final. Although, this time it were the Citizens who came out with a 1-0 victory from the game through a second-half goal from Gabriel Jesus.
We’ve broken down all the key stats for you to digest, including;
* shot maps
* xT (expected threat)
* pass networks
* xG timelines
* defensive duels
* average positions and much more!
We also try to answer some questions for you with the visuals;
Which Man City player attempted and received the most number of shots? What were the main xT creation zones for Chelsea?
To navigate the stats gallery simply click on the numbers to move through the pages.
At the end of the gallery, you’ll be able to download the full PDF stats report.
Thomas Tuchel lined up the European champions in a 3-5-2 formation against the defending Premier League champions. Edouard Mendy started in goal behind three centre backs, left centre-back Toni Rudiger, centre-back Andreas Christensen and right centre-back Cesar Azpilicueta. Marcus Alonso kept his place at left wing-back, while Reece James started as the right wing-back. After an injury at the half-hour mark, Reece James had to come off and was replaced by Thiago Silva. The veteran slipped in the centre-back position, and captain Azpilicueta moved to the right wing-back position. The three midfielders who started the game included N’Golo Kante on the left, Mateo Kovacic on the right and Jorginho running thing from the centre. It was the first time that Romelu Lulkaku and Timo Werner started in the same game as the two strikers.
The average positions of the Chelsea players show that they did not have much of the ball in the game and had to defend for long periods. Most players had their average position inside their own half, trying to absorb the City pressure and waiting for opportunities to counterattack.
Pep Guardiola lined up his Man city side in a 4-3-3 formation with Ederson starting between the sticks. The back four included left-back Joao Cancelo, centre backs Aymeric Laporte and Ruben Dias, and right-back Kyle Walker. The midfield three had Kevin De Bruyne on the left, Bernardo Silva on the right and Rodri controlling the midfield from the centre. The front three included Jack Grealish on the left-wing, and Gabriel Jesus and Phil Foden were interchanging between the right-wing and false nine roles.
The average positions of the citizens show that they had much more advanced positions on the field compared to their opponents. Most players had their average position inside the opposition half, showing that they had most of the possession and were continuously attacking in the game.
The Blues did not have a great game and had a very low xG of just 0.14 in the game. They only managed to take four shots in the entire 90 minutes and were unable to register a single shot on target. The visitors on the other hand generated an xG on 1.59 in the game, attempting a total of twelve shots, hitting five on target. They had much more attacks than Chelsea and also had an overall possession of 61% in the match.
Goalscorer Gabriel Jesus had the highest individual xG of 1.07 in the match, while Timo Werner was the only Blues player to have any noticeable xG(0.11). De Bruyne took a total of four shots in the game, while Jack Grealish had nine successful dribbles in the game. Rodri and Cancelo both had 16 passes each in the final third.
The xT creation timeline shows that the first half was totally dominated by the Citizens, who had all the xT(expected threat) creation in the first half. after the visitors took the lead, Chelsea started to create some kind of threat in the last 30 minutes of the game, The xG timeline also shows a similar thing, where City’s xG continuously increases over the 90 minutes, but Chelsea only started creating some xG after going behind to Jesus’ goal.
The passing zones of the Blues show that they had most of their passes completed in the defensive areas and a few in midfield. they had only a couple of successful smart passes, but they did put in a decent number of crosses into the box. Azpilicueta put in four crosses and seven passes into the opponent box.
Man City’s pass matrix shows that they completed most of their passes in the midfield region, with a larger concentration of passes on the left side of midfield and the right-wing. They put in a lot of crosses into the box and also had a handful number of smart passes. Cancelo put in 10 passes into the opposition box, while Jack Grealish put in a total of seven crosses.
The xT creation zones of the Blues show that they had very little xT creation in and around the opposition 18-yard box. Cesar Azpilicueta was their best player and had the highest individual xT creation from passing.
Cesar Azpilicueta had the highest xT generation from passing for the Blues, while strikers Werner and Lukaku had a decent xT creation from their dribbling. Centre-back Rudiger also had a run in which he created some xT from his dribbles.
The xT creation zones of Pep Guardiola’s Man City show that they had huge xT creation in the opponent’s half, especially on the left-wing and right side of the penalty area. Joao Cancelo had the highest xT creation among the Citizens.
Other than Cancelo, Bernardo Silva and Jack Grealish both had higher xT generation than all of the Chelsea players. Jack Grealish also had the highest xT(expected threat) creation for City, followed by Gabriel Jesus and Joao Cancelo.
Chelsea players contested a large number of defensive duels in their defence and were only able to win around 40% of these duels. All of the Blues were able to win one or two defensive duels in the match.
There were a lot of aerial duels contested in the match by the blues, especially in the two penalty boxes. Azpilicueta won four aerial duels for them, followed by Lukaku and Christensen, who won three each.
It was an interesting tactical battle between Pep Guardiola and Thomas Tuchel, as Man City came out with a 1-0 victory in the match which sees his team go up to second in the table, ahead of Tuchel’s Chelsea, who are in third. Chelsea and Man City are now both pon 13 points along with Man United, Everton and Brighton, and are just one point behind leaders, Liverpool.
The Premier League at the moment looks to be the most interesting and competitive league in Europe, with the team at the top separated by the sixth-placed team by just one point. This can be anyone’s Premier League title this season, with Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Chelsea the biggest four contenders.
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