Willian’s second-half penalty helped Chelsea beat 10-man Manchester City 2-1 to confirm Liverpool as Premier League champions.
Chelsea took the lead after 36 minutes following a mix-up between Benjamin Mendy and Ilkay Gundogan, allowing Christian Pulisic to advance from inside his own half and slot past Ederson.
City continued from where they’d left off against Burnley for the first half-an-hour, dominating possession and pinning Chelsea in their own half.
The hosts were happy to camp on the edge of their own box with every man back, hoping to catch City on the counter-attack.
The best opportunity in that period of ascendancy was Fernadinho’s glancing header from Riyad Mahrez’s free-kick that was tipped over by Kepa.
But Chelsea began to look a threat when they did venture forward and Ederson was forced into a fine reflex save from Christensen’s header on 33.
Indeed, there were one or two shaky moments at the back for City, but on 36 minutes, a terrible mix-up led to Chelsea taking the lead.
As a City free-kick was cleared to the centre circle, Benjamin Mendy played a loose pass towards Ilkay Gundogan allowing Pulisic to race forward towards goal.
Mendy then attempted to make amends by challenging the Chelsea striker as he raced clear, but he skipped past the tackle before placing a low shot past Ederson.
It was harsh on City, but a clever free-kick two minutes later came close to finding a quick equaliser when De Bruyne fed Mahrez on the corner of the box and the Algerian’s shot curled inches over.
But this City team always believes and when Kante fouled Mahrez 25-yards out, De Bruyne struck a wonderful free-kick into the top left-hand corner to level the scores just before the hour-mark.
And City continued to pummel Chelsea with a wave of attacks, knowing the price of dropped points, but the hosts then broke with purpose and as Pulisic went around Ederson, only a magnificent goal-line clearance by Kyle Walker prevented a goal.
It was becoming an enthralling contest with an air of ‘next goals wins’ drama thrown in for good measure.
The decisive moment came when Fernandinho was shown a red card following a VAR review for a deliberate handball to deny Chelsea substitute Tammy Abraham on the goalline.
Willian fired in the resulting penalty to put Chelsea back in front with 12 minutes remaining.
City were unable to respond, leaving them 23 points behind champions Liverpool with seven matches left to play.
Photo Credit: Premierleague.com