Most importantly, the scoreline
1-0. It really is as simple as that. Manchester City scored and Chelsea didn't.
Ex-Chelsea player Kevin De Bruyne was the only difference as his 70th-minute strike sealed the win over his former club.
With most De Bruyne goals, it was an absolute beauty - curling in from outside the box past the struggling Kepa Arrizabalaga.
Chelsea had enough chances to gain a point, or even upset the league leaders with an away win, but were unable to make the most of them, with Ederson denying Romelu Lukaku on multiple occasions.
Like a brick wall
With Ruben Dias given a break on the bench, Aymeric Laporte and John Stones made up the backline, protecting Ederson.
After Stones' much-improved campaign last season, Man City fans have been questioning why the England international has only made 11 appearances in all competitions so far.
Trust clearly isn't an issue at the club, however, with Stones being deployed in one of the most important games of the Premier League season.
It was a fantastic game for the pair of centre-backs.
Laporte:
- Five aerial duels contested
- Five aerial duels WON
Stones:
- Four aerial duels contested
- Four aerial duels WON
That made it a 100% winning battle in the air against Chelsea, with the 6'3" Lukaku bearing down on the defensive pair for 90 minutes.
Another stat that impressed the manager was that City only conceded one shot on target in both games against their opposition this season.
Pep Guardiola: "In 180 minutes, we conceded one shot on target... against CHELSEA. Ah guys... that is SO good."
The Match-Winner
De Bruyne is a known match-winner. Easily, the best man on the pitch and, for many, the best player in the Premier League.
Although his stats this season may not support that, he still shows up in the big matches and pitches in with a spectacular strike or jaw-dropping assist.
It seems as though the Belgian maestro always feels the need to prove himself against Chelsea, with his goal on Saturday expanding the gap between his number of goals against them (5) and the number of appearances he made for them in the league (3).
De Bruyne's game in numbers:
- 60 touches
- 31 passes
- 12 duels
- 7 crosses (most)
- 6 dribbles attempted (most), with 4 completed (most)
- 2 chances created (=most)
- 1 goal (most)
His winning goal took him level with Callum Robinson for the players with the most Premier League goals scored against Chelsea since the start of the 2017/18 season (5) - a deadly marksman against Thomas Tuchel's side.
And despite a season full of highs and lows already, his strike against the Blues meant he has already matched his goal tally of six from last season.
2020/21 - Six goals in 25 games
2021/22 - Six goals in 17 games
City's stats
City's last 12 Premier League games have set up an 11-point gap between them and second-place Liverpool.
34 goals scored, seven goals conceded, 12 wins on the bounce.
Manchester United, Everton, West Ham United, Aston Villa, Watford, Wolves, Leeds United, Norwich City, Leicester City, Brentford, Arsenal, Chelsea - defeated.
Losses - none.
To add to that, only two Man City managers have completed the Premier League double over Chelsea - Roberto Mancini and Guardiola.
Hall of fame.