Man City Only Need Six Minutes to Destroy Chelsea, Guardiola Immediately Target Arsenal

JAKARTA - Manchester City is again a serious threat to Arsenal who are leading the English Premier League standings. In the duel at Stamford Bridge Stadium, Sunday, April 13, 2026 WIB evening, Man City only needed six minutes to destroy Chelsea and win 3-0. Successfully conquering Chelsea, Man City manager Pep Guardiola immediately targeted Arsenal.

The London team failed to help each other. Arsenal, based in North London, at least hopes to get support from Chelsea. The reason is that the West London club hosts Man City and should be able to slow down the opponent's pace while maintaining the hope of getting a ticket to the Champions League.

Support from Chelsea is certainly very meaningful because Arsenal has lost points because they were defeated by Bournemouth 2-1. The defeat was a heavy blow to manager Mikel Arteta because Arsenal suffered at home. Moreover, the Gunners boasted that they would put pressure on Man City by defeating Bournemouth. What happened now is that Arsenal is under pressure.

And, the pressure is getting heavier after Man City showed maximum performance when beating Chelsea. The Cityzens' success in getting three points in the away game clearly boosted the confidence of Guardiola's team to compete for the league title.

Moreover, they can repeat the success of the 2023 and 2024 seasons. At that time, Arsenal, who had been leading the standings, always suffered defeat at the Etihad in the last weeks of the competition. As a result, Man City succeeded in overtaking Arsenal and winning the league title. Meanwhile, Arsenal can only continue to dream of winning the Premier League title for the first time since 2004.

The victory at Stamford Bridge made Man City cut the gap to six points. Now, the six-time Premier League champion under Guardiola has 64 points. Still six points behind Arsenal. Only Man City still has one postponed match against Crystal Palace. And, more importantly, Erling Haaland et al will host Arsenal which will be the second match between the two teams on Sunday, April 19, 2026 WIB.

"It's important for us to beat Arsenal because now we are only six points behind. But if they beat us, then the competition is over. Even if it's a draw, it's all over," Guardiola said in response to the competition with Arsenal as quoted by france24.

"But I still have respect for Arsenal, especially with what they have done over the years. I know the manager, the players and their quality very well. How they compete in every opportunity. Playing against them is the biggest thing we have ever faced," he said again.

Guardiola also named Arsenal as one of the best teams in England and Europe. According to not easy to beat Arsenal. However, now, Man City must be able to beat them in order to maintain competition in the Premier League.

"They are the best team in England and Europe. To beat Arsenal once is very difficult. Imagine we have to beat them twice in a few weeks. We have to give the players a longer break," said the former Barcelona coach who previously led Man City to beat Arsenal 2-0 in the final of the English League Cup.

The defeat in the final seemed to be the beginning of Arsenal's downfall when entering the last weeks of the competition. Arsenal was then eliminated in the FA Cup after being defeated by Championship team Southampton. Finally, they were forced to surrender 2-1 by Bournemouth at home.

Man City's match when visiting Chelsea's headquarters was actually tight in the first half. Both teams attacked each other and Chelsea tried to break into the Man City goal to chase the position in the Champions League zone. In the big match, Chelsea was again not reinforced by captain Enzo Fernandez who was sanctioned by the club.

They had threatened when defender Marc Cucurella scored in the 17th minute. Only Cucurella's goal was annulled because he was in an offside position. Furthermore, Pedro Neto's kick was also not difficult to be secured by goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma.

Man City, who had the ball, also had an opportunity when Bernardo Silva greeted Nico O'Reilly's cross. However, Silva's attempt from close range could be thwarted by goalkeeper Robert Sanchez. There was no goal during the first 45 minutes and the score was still 0-0.

Entering the second half, Man City played better and more aggressively. Even their attack immediately gave positive results in the 51st minute.

It started with an attack built by Man City through Rayan Cherki from the left side of the Blues' defense. Cherki then fired a shot that led to the goal. The opportunity was greeted by O'Reilly with a close-range header that defeated Sanchez.

The goal gave Man City a 1-0 lead. They were also more aggressive in pressing Chelsea's defense. As a result, just six minutes later, Man City was able to break the host's goal.

Cherki was again instrumental in the second goal when he provided a brilliant pass to Marc Guehi. The player, who was recruited from Palace, then completed it to score a goal to change the score to 2-0.

Being conceded twice in just six minutes immediately broke the morale of the team coached by Liam Rosenior. It turns out, they were unable to get out of the pressure and were increasingly burdened by Man City's slick game. Moreover, Sanchez then made a mistake.

In a situation where there are several Man City players in his defensive area, he actually gave the ball to Moises Caicedo. There are three Man City players who immediately surrounded Caicedo. As a result, the ball was successfully seized by Jeremy Doku who then fired a direct shot into the goal without being able to reach Sanchez.

The goal in the 68th minute changed the score to 3-0 for Man City. The goal made the hosts helpless and finally had to admit Man City's advantage. The defeat thwarted Chelsea's attempt to approach Liverpool. They remain in sixth place with 48 points.