Man City destroy Chelsea 6-0, Tottenham stay in title hunt

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Manchester City's top striker Sergio Aguero struck his second hat-trick in a week as the champions ruthlessly destroyed woeful Chelsea in a 6-0 win at The Etihad on Sunday to return to the top of the Premier League.

Liverpool's 3-0 win over Bournemouth on Saturday cut short talks of a title run-in and was achieved with some glorious football against a top six opponent.

In the past week City has beaten Arsenal at home and Everton away before taking Maurizio Sarri's side to pieces with four goals in the opening 25 minutes.

"Incredible week, incredible game," said manager Pep Guardiola.

"To score six against Chelsea and the way we played, we had so much attention (to detail). We did it, it's an incredible compliment to the players, they are outstanding," added the Spaniard.

City have now scored 33 goals in their last five home games in all competitions and have a chance of lifting their first silverware of the season when they face Chelsea again at Wembley in the League Cup final on Feb. 24.

City and Liverpool are both on 65 points with City having the better goal difference although they have played one more game than their rivals. Third-placed Tottenham Hotspur, who beat Leicester City 3-1 earlier on Sunday, are five points behind.

Aguero, who scored a hat-trick seven days ago against Arsenal, has equaled Alan Shearer's record of 11 Premier League hat-tricks and is now joint top scorer in the league this season with Liverpool's Mohamed Salah on 17 goals.

Sergio Aguero of Manchester City celebrates after scoring his team's fifth goal during the Premier League match against Chelsea FC at Etihad Stadium in Manchester, UK, February 10, 2019. /VCG Photo

Defense napping

Chelsea had no time to settle before Raheem Sterling fired City ahead in the fourth minute with a side-foot finish after a quick free-kick from Kevin De Bruyne caught the visiting defense napping.

After Aguero had somehow missed an open goal from two meters, the Argentine promptly beat goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga with a blistering strike from 25 meters, underlining the fact that he is far more than a penalty area poacher.

A poor header by Chelsea's Ross Barkley towards his own goal gifted Aguero with City's third, the Argentine firing home with a first-time shot on the turn, and then a low drive from Ilkay Gundogan made it 4-0 after 25 minutes.

City were helped by the vulnerable nature of Chelsea's defense but in truth few teams would have been able to survive the speed, precision and directness they produced.

Guardiola had left David Silva on the bench but his midfield looked perfectly balanced with De Bruyne and Gundogan providing a presence in the middle and Bernardo Silva, who seems to get better with every game, in imperious form on the right flank.

Following the break, Aguero, who also became City's all-time top scorer in league games, headed against the bar before he completed his hat-trick from the penalty spot after Sterling had been brought down by Cesar Azpilicueta.

Sterling completed the rout, turning in a low cross from Oleksandr Zinchenko in the 80th.

Fernandinho of Manchester City stretches as Kepa Arrizabalaga of Chelsea dives for the ball during the Premier League match between Manchester City and Chelsea FC at Etihad Stadium in Manchester, UK, February 10, 2019. /VCG Photo

The defeat was Chelsea's worst since their 7-0 loss to Nottingham Forest in 1991 and will raise serious questions about the direction the team is going in under Italian Sarri as they slip to sixth place with 50 points, a point off the top four.

"It is one of the worst nights in my career. It is difficult to explain what happened," said Chelsea captain Azpilicueta.

"When we lose 6-0 we have to accept we didn't play well and made errors. We knew it would be tough. When we won (2-0 against City on December 8) at Stamford Bridge it was because we played well and were together. Today was not the case.

"All I can do is apologizing to the fans because it is not acceptable," he said.

Tottenham beat Leicester 3-1

Goals from Davinson Sanchez, Christian Eriksen and Son Heung-min helped Tottenham Hotspur overcome Leicester City 3-1 in an entertaining Premier League match at Wembley Stadium on Sunday.

Tottenham went ahead through Sanchez who scored his first goal for the London club by meeting Eriksen's whipped cross with a diving header in the 33rd minute, although Leicester's players complained he was in an offside position.

Leicester missed the chance to equalize on the hour mark when substitute Jamie Vardy's penalty – his first touch after coming on – was pushed away by Hugo Lloris after Jan Vertonghen was adjudged to have fouled James Maddison in the box.

"Lloris saved us a few times and we were lucky that he took out the penalty which gave us confidence. You felt that in the whole stadium, and we're happy to have Hugo," Eriksen said.

Son Heung-min of Tottenham Hotspur is chased by Leicester City players during their Premier League match at Wembley Stadium in London, UK, February 10, 2019. /VCG Photo

Tottenham doubled their lead three minutes later as Eriksen collected the ball on the edge of the penalty area and unleashed a fierce shot past goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel.

Vardy made up for his earlier miss by tapping in from close range 14 minutes from the final whistle after a well-worked move allowed Ricardo Pereira to drill in a cross from the right.

After a sustained period of Leicester pressure, Son settled nerves of the home supporters by slotting in Tottenham's third with a solo run from the halfway line.

Victory took title contenders Tottenham to 60 points from 26 matches, five points behind leaders Liverpool and two adrift of champions Manchester City who play Chelsea later on Sunday.

Eriksen said Tottenham had shown plenty of character to see off a determined Leicester, a quality that could help them in Wednesday's Champions League last-16 first leg clash against Bundesliga leaders Borussia Dortmund.

"We didn't make life easy for ourselves," the Dane said.

"The last three games we won in the last 10 minutes, which shows the character of the team and we did that again today. It's going to be the same on Wednesday."

Source(s): Reuters