By Clare Lovell, Reuters.
Manchester City reignited the Premier League title race on Sunday, scoring three goals in 17 second-half minutes to crush Chelsea at Stamford Bridge and move within six points of leaders Arsenal.
The visitors, who meet Arsenal at home next weekend in a mouthwatering clash, turned on the style after a pedestrian first half in which Chelsea arguably looked the stronger side.
Pep Guardiola’s men began the second half with renewed conviction and simply skipped through the Londoners’ shaky defences.
“Second half was a thousand times much better,” Pep Guardiola told Sky Sports. “It was not bad the first half, but some players were not as they were meant to be.”
Nico O’Reilly started the rout, shrugging off Andrey Santos to head the ball home from a Rayan Cherki cross in the 51st minute.
Cherki was on hand six minutes later to cross for former Chelsea defender Marc Guehi to finish in the bottom corner.
Jeremy Doku made it three in the 68th, robbing Moises Caicedo of the ball just outside the Chelsea area and flashing his shot past the stranded Robert Sanchez in goal.
City have a game in hand and their tails up before next week’s Arsenal fixture after the leaders lost to Bournemouth on Saturday.
It was City’s first Premier League victory since February but they beat Arsenal 2-0 at Wembley last month to win the League Cup, the eager 21-year-old O’Reilly scoring both goals.
Arsenal also have little rest between games with a Champions League quarter-final clash against Sporting in midweek.
“They will come with hunger,” Doku told Sky Sports. “They don’t want to just give it to us so we have to go and take it. Trust me, we’ll be well prepared.”
The result severely dented Chelsea’s Champions League qualification ambitions. They remain sixth in the Premier League, four points adrift of Liverpool in fifth.
Premier League Results
Nottingham Forest 1-1 Aston Villa
Sunderland 1-0 Tottenham Hotspur
Crystal Palace 2-1 Newcastle United.