Chelsea’s dreadful form under Graham Potter continued today after the Blues were on the end of a sobering 4-0 defeat away to Man City in the FA Cup.
Riyad Mahrez scored the winner when these sides met in the Premier League last Thursday and on 23 minutes the Algerian winger would open the scoring for Man City. Mahrez was taken down 25 yards from goal by young defender Lewis Hall and the former Leicester man duly stepped up and curled a wonderful free-kick into the top corner.
On the half-hour mark Man City would go two up via a penalty from World Cup winner Julian Alvarez after Chelsea forward Kai Havertz handled the ball in the area.
If the game wasn’t already over as a contest it certainly was seven minutes later when Phil Foden calmly steered a Kyle Walker cutback past Kepa and into the Chelsea goal.
Pep Guardiola’s side further showed their dominance five minutes from the end when Mahrez fired home another penalty after Kalidou Koulibaly clumsily took down Foden in the area.
City’s reward for winning tonight will be a fourth-round fixture at home against either Oxford United or title rivals Arsenal.
Chelsea fans are chanting this… 😬#BBCFootball #FACup pic.twitter.com/POJtNQGd5j
— Match of the Day (@BBCMOTD) January 8, 2023
The pressure on Potter is sure to rachet up after this latest loss and speaking afterwards the English coach admitted his side was well beaten.
“I thought we were second best to a very good side,” Potter told his post-match press conference.
”Obviously, we’re not in a great moment ourselves and even though it was a cagey first 20 minutes we couldn’t attack the backline well enough or attack as well as we’d like. Manchester City did really well in terms of stopping us do that but at the same time, we struggled.
“It’s a fantastic first goal in terms of a strike from a free-kick and then there was the strange penalty and it’s then 2-0. We the had to chase the ball against Man City and we were caught between trying to commit more men forward and not being opened up. The first half was painful and tough for us all.
“The second half we had to respond and I thought there were some positives there in terms of the young players. I thought they gave everything and showed their quality. But in the end we’re disappointed because we’ve gone out of the competition. Congratulations Man City, they deserved to win of course. We’re disappointed because we’ve gone out.”
