MANCHESTER CITY leapfrogged Chelsea in the Premier League table following a display of attacking intent from both sides on Saturday evening.

Chelsea opened the scoring when N’Golo Kante temporarily morphed into a striker, using his pace to get on the end of Mateo Kovacic’s pass before nudging his finish under Ederson.

Kevin De Bruyne equalised for the hosts, cutting inside onto his left before being served a slice of luck as his shot deflected past Kepa off Kurt Zouma, but there was no luck involved in the winner.

Riyad Mahrez slalomed between Kovacic and Emerson before feeding his shot through the legs of Fikayo Tomori to produce the game’s outstanding moment.

It was fitting that such a goal decided a match full of attacking intent from which Chelsea emerged having had more possession than the home side. There were remnants of Maurizio Sarri’s side in the way they kept the ball, but Frank Lampard has certainly made his own mark on the team.

“Maybe [possession] is not the critical factor,” Lampard said.

“I wanted to come here and be brave, to compete, to be brave on and off the ball.

“In the first half, you saw all of that from us. At 1-0 we had relative control of the game but we lacked that little bit of quality in the final third. 

“There were a lot of positives but we lost, and it shows you at this level the finer details in both boxes are what can decide games.”

Fernandinho impressed at centre-back for City and Guardiola suggested that this is now his best position.

Since the departure of Vincent Kompany at the end of last season, the defending champions have lacked quality from their remaining centre-backs, but the 34-year-old former midfielder has generally impressed. 

The manager suggested it was always his plan to use the Brazilian in this role.

“If Rodri and [Ilkay] Gundogan are fit, I don’t think so,” Guardiola said when asked if Fernandinho will move back into midfield. 

“I like Fernandinho in that position [centre-back].”

Raheem Sterling looked to have sealed the win in the final minutes but VAR ruled him offside. It was the narrowest of margins and Sterling can count himself unfortunate. City’s win sees them move to third in the table, but they remain nine off the top.