Manchester City defeated Chelsea 1-0 at Stamford Bridge on Thursday, cutting the gap between themselves and Premier League leaders Arsenal to five points.

After a lacklustre first 45 minutes from the champs, Riyad Mahrez and Jack Grealish, both off the bench in the second half, combined to give Pep Guardiola's team the lead.

Chelsea put up a good fight, but the loss of Raheem Sterling significantly reduced their chance of scoring.

The closest they got to an equaliser was a late chance for replacement Lewis Hall after Christian Pulisic went down with an injury.

The pressure was on City to capitalise on the table-toppers' error after Arsenal and Newcastle United drew on Tuesday.

They were heavy favourites to defeat Graham Potter's team, who had only won one of their previous six games overall.

In the first few minutes against his former team, Sterling seemed to pull his hamstring, while Pulisic was also substituted after failing to recover.

a strong John Stones challenge that prevented the USA star from having a clear chance to score the game's first goal.

However, Chelsea appeared to be the more dangerous team in the opening period

youngster Carney Chukwuemeka almost gave them the lead when his attempt from the outskirts of the area rattled the left-hand post.