- Man City moves into third
- City four points clear of United
- Aguero has 21 PL goals this season
- Courtois sees late red card
Sergio Aguero completed a hat trick with an 80th minute penalty as Manchester City moved into third place in the Premier League with a 3-0 win over Chelsea on Saturday at the Etihad Stadium.
City leads Arsenal by one point and neighbors United by four, though it’s played one more match than the Gunners (who play Sunday at home to Crystal Palace).
Chelsea remains in 10th place with 44 points.
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Gary Cahill saved Chelsea’s early bacon when he blocked Sergio Aguero’s third minute chance, which came after Jesus Navas made a lung-busting run down the field to play Kevin De Bruyne toward the end line.
The other end saw Hart making a tackle to clean up a mess in his own 18, and City and Chelsea were trading chances in a fiery start.
City was the more dangerous side in the first half hour, with De Bruyne leading the fray. The Belgian set Aguero up for the opener in the 33rd minute, his deflected pass collected and finished by the Argentine striker.
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9 – Chelsea have gone nine Premier League home games without a clean sheet; their longest ever such run in the competition. Leak.
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) April 16, 2016
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Chelsea looked ready to level things moments after the break, but Ruben Loftus-Cheek couldn’t get good contact on an in-tight chance and City was able to clear the ball.
Aguero doubled City’s lead in the 54th minute on a breakneck counterattack, as Nasri slipped him through and the Argentine did the rest with a hard right-footed shot.
Thibaut Courtois was shown a red card when Fernandinho skipped past Cahill for a 1v1 with the keeper. Courtois slid at the City player, who went down and drew the PK.
Aguero? Yeah, he finished just fine from the spot.