Pep Guardiola breaks Manchester City win record after victory over Chelsea

Securing three points at Stamford Bridge means Spaniard has now overtaken Les McDowall's 220 wins

Manchester City's Gabriel Jesus, left, scores the only goal of the game against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Saturday, September 25, 2021. AP

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola, left, shakes hands with his Chelsea counterpart Thomas Tuchel after the match. EPA

Manchester City's Gabriel Jesus celebrates with Bernardo Silva after scoring. Reuters

Chelsea goalkeeper Edouard Mendy saves from Manchester City's Phil Foden. AFP

Gabriel Jesus of Manchester City celebrates scoring the first goal on Saturday. Getty

Rodrigo of Manchester City battles for possession with Chelsea's with Marcos Alonso. Getty

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Chelsea's Romelu Lukaku on the attack against Manchester City. EPA

Chelsea's Reece James receives treatment after picking up an injury. Getty

Chelsea's Romelu Lukaku looks dejected after the City goal. Getty

Chelsea goalkeeper Edouard Mendy saves at the feet of City's Phil Foden. Getty

Manchester City enjoyed a memorable Saturday afternoon as they defeated rivals Chelsea and saw Pep Guardiola break the club record for most wins as a manager.

City avenged their Champions League final defeat to Chelsea and secured a big three points in the early stages of the Premier League title race with a 1-0 triumph at Stamford Bridge.

Gabriel Jesus' deflected effort eight minutes into the second-half sealed the points - and the icing on the cake was Guardiola securing his 221st win since taking charge in 2016.

The Spaniard moved past Les McDowall, who had 220 wins during his 13-year period as City boss, with one of his campaigns spent in the second tier.

"I’m so proud. This milestone here in Stamford Bridge. Doing it here is special," Guardiola said.

"This period we have been together is magnificent. We can lose games and finals but people cannot say we do not try every single game. We always go to do our game - we’re proud."

It was a deserved win for the visitors who pressed Chelsea from the outset and enjoyed 60 per cent possession. The result also broke a three-match losing streak for City against Chelsea.

Although City had had some big wins this season, like the 5-0s against Norwich and Arsenal and a 6-3 victory over Leipzig in the Champions League, a goalless draw with Southampton provided a glaring reminder of the fact Guardiola failed to sign a striker to replace Sergio Aguero.

And against Chelsea, Guardiola’s team saw much more of the ball in midfield but there was no striker to make the kind of runs to finish off the flowing moves.

And, in the end, it required a lucky break to make the breakthrough after Joao Cancelo’s shot from the edge of the area landed at the feet of Brazil forward Gabriel Jesus, who was again used as a right winger.

It was Jesus's 52nd goal for City and they have never lost a Premier League game in which he has scored.

"We prepared to play well," he told BT Sport. "We came to play against one of the best teams in Europe. They play so good and have a lot of amazing players. We knew it was going to be difficult for us...

"Sometimes we don’t play well, but if we suffer a little bit we can attack. We have a lot of top players to create chances and try to score goals."

Jack Grealish almost doubled City's lead minutes later, but the former Aston Villa man angled his effort just wide after neatly stepping beyond Cesar Azpilicueta.

Ruben Dias played a big role in preserving City's clean sheet, restricting Romelu Lukaku who found little space to strike.

Lukaku thought he had equalised for Chelsea from Havertz's square pass, only for the Germany star to be rightly ruled offside in the build-up.

"We’re disappointed with the result," Azpilicueta said. "It was not our best performance. Especially in the first half it was hard to get out. We didn’t create chances and lost the ball too easily. After the goal we had a good reaction, but it was not enough to get something from the game."

It was just the 15th Premier League goal Chelsea had conceded in 25 games since Thomas Tuchel took charge. The manager admitted Chelsea simply were not good enough.

"We lost the game and City deserved to win. Until the goal we were very strong in the last 20 metres of the field, but only there unfortunately," Tuchel said.

"Everywhere else we were not good enough to relieve pressure and to hurt them. The performance was not complex enough. Overall, simply, we were not at our best level."