Not many expected Chelsea to beat Manchester City before the two sides stepped on the Stamford Bridge turf on Thursday night. The odds of a rare win dropped even lower when Chelsea suffered two massive injuries in the space of 22 minutes. Blues held their breath as they watched Raheem Sterling and Christian Pulisic hobble off.
But the Blues gave a good account of themselves and nearly took the lead in the first half when Carney Chukwuemeka struck the bar with a right-footed shot.
Graham Potter set up his team to press Man City and win the ball higher up the pitch. They did that to good effect and it almost resulted in the Blues taking a lead early in the game.
Despite Chelsea's improved performance against the Champions, a big problem for Chelsea was Marc Cucurella's poor defending when City overloaded the left flank. He often seemed short on ideas regarding what to do when City pressured his side.
Cucurella was dribbled five times and made an error leading to Riyad Mahrez's goal by failing to track the Algerian. It was schoolboy defending from the £60m man at best.
Offensively, Potter allowed the former Brighton left-back to overlap City when he had the chance, but Cucu barely created anything for the Chelsea attackers as stats have shown. He made no key passes, no accurate cross or long balls. It's no surprise he's yet to score or assist since signing for Chelsea. How Blues miss Ben Chilwell.
Cucurella was the weak link in the defence
Regardless of Cucurella's poor defending, Chelsea can build on their performance against City when Premier League action resumes next week.
The Blues will try again against the Cityzens on Sunday when Chelsea travels to the Etihad for an FA Cup knockout game.
