Man City 1 – Chelsea 0: Pep Guardiola’s men move 18 points clear after poor Blues showing

Antonio Conte went into the match accusing Chelsea’s hierarchy of failing to match his ambition but ended it having to fi eld accusations of a lack of tactical adventure.

It was so embarrassingly one-sided you could count on the fingers of one hand how many times City goalkeeper Ederson needed to touch the ball with his.

Pep Guardiola’s cavaliers completed 902 passes – more than any other Premier League team since Opta started keeping their records in 2002-03.

But that dominance was helped by Chelsea’s negative approach.

There’s no shame in setting out to contain City but Conte’s tactics did not change after they had fallen behind 33 seconds into the second half.

He did not introduce Olivier Giroud until the 78th minute and sending on Alvara Morata for the final few seconds was embarrassing.

It was more a case of parking two buses than one. City’s young left-back Oleksandr Zinchenko completed 81 passes in the first half when nine Chelsea players had a combined total of 80.

Yes, Chelsea avoided a hammering. But what their fans were asking was why did they not have more of a go to salvage something? Even tennis legend Boris Becker tweeted to declare his dismay.

When Marcos Alonso volleyed an added-time chance wide it was the closest Chelsea had come.

On the rare occasions Chelsea did have the ball, they gave it away within seconds.

Eden Hazard, playing in a false No9 role, looked a dispirited figure. Pedro had a nightmare.

Gary Neville called the display of last season’s champions embarrassing while fellow pundit Jamie Redknapp described their sterile approach as anti-football.

The gulf between the teams was underlined when City resorted to a game of keep-ball in the second half.

Quite apart from their runaway lead in the table, a measure of City’s improvement is that they have now won seven of their eight games against the so-called top six, with a home game against United and an away trip to Tottenham to come.

And if they win their next two games against Stoke and Everton, how sweet it would be if they could win the title by beating United in that game at the Etihad on April 7 – the earliest the title has ever been won.

While City have made such impressive strides this season, Chelsea’s decline is alarming.

They won the title at a canter last season but find themselves 25 points behind City with nine games left.

They have now lost four of their past five league games and are in danger of playing Europa League football next season.

City enjoyed 78 per cent possession in the first half but despite Leroy Sane having a shot cleared off the line by Cesar Azpilicueta and Bernardo Silva curling an effort on to the bar, Chelsea held out.

But all their defensive work was undone in the first minute of the second half, with Andreas Christensen the culprit.

The Dane failed to clear Ilkay Gundogan’s pass, the ball broke to Sergio Aguero, who fed David Silva down the left flank.

And his perfect cross was bundled into the net by his namesake Bernardo.

It was not a classic – his seventh of the season went in off his shin – but it was thoroughly deserved.

City could have had more in the second half when David Silva had a fierce shot saved by Thibaut Courtois and the champions-elect buzzed around Chelsea’s penalty area.

When Chelsea did make a rare foray forward, Victor Moses fi red high after Cesc Fabregas had set him up, but then it was back to one-way traffic.

A couple of Chelsea fans took off their shirts towards the end, turned their backs on the game and resorted to choir practice as City strolled to their 14th consecutive home league win, matching Liverpool’s record.

Aguero was kept waiting again for his 200th City goal but it will come as surely as City will wrap up the title in the next few weeks.

MAN CITY (4-3-3): Ederson 7; Walker 7, Otamendi 7, Laporte 7, Zinchenko 7 (Danilo 87); De Bruyne 7, Gundogan 8, D Silva 9 (Foden 90); B Silva 7, Aguero 7 (Jesus 84), Sane 8. Booked: Zinchenko, Gundogan.

CHELSEA (3-4-3): Courtois 6; Azpilicueta 6, Christensen 5, Rudiger 6; Moses 5, Fabregas 5, Drinkwater 5, Alonso 5; Willian 6 (Giroud 78, 5), Pedro 4 (Emerson 81), Hazard 4 (Morata 89).

Referee: M Oliver (Northumberland).