Much-changed Manchester City beat Chelsea amid title party

MANCHESTER – A much-changed Manchester City beat Chelsea 1-0 as the main focus at the Etihad Stadium was to celebrate City’s third-straight Premier League title win.

FULL MATCH REPLAY

Pep Guardiola made nine changes from the team which battered Real Madrid in midweek and three of them combined for the only goal as Kalvin Phillips played in Cole Palmer who set up Julian Alvarez to finish.

Chelsea huffed and puffed as Conor Gallagher hit the post while Raheem Sterling (who got a great reception from the City fans when he was subbed off) twice came close as caretaker boss Frank Lampard at least saw his side dig in.

But it was City’s fringe players and youngsters who showed just how good they are as Guardiola will have the luxury of resting his star men for the final two Premier League games and ahead of the FA Cup final against Manchester United on June 3 and the UEFA Champions League final against Inter Milan in Istanbul on June 10.

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With the win Manchester City move on to 88 points for the season with two games to go. Chelsea remain on 43 points and are guaranteed to finish in the bottom half of the table for the first time since 1996.

Yes, this was a Chelsea side struggling but the likes of Cole Palmer, Phil Foden, Julian Alvarez and Rico Lewis all proved they can stand in whenever they are called upon and the level won’t drop that much. Now and in the future. Pep Guardiola rotated his team, as he should, but the likes of Foden, Alvarez could still play a big role in the FA Cup and Champions League finals. Kalvin Phillips also proved his class and there is so much focus on the starting lineup at City that the back ups don’t often get the credit they deserve. Most of