Maurizio Sarri’s Chelsea inflicted on Manchester City their first defeat of the season yesterday, but this scoreline doesn’t come close to reflecting the story of the match.  

Goals from Chelsea’s French midfielder N’golo Kante, just before half-time, and a second-half header from defender David Luiz ended a run of seven victories for Pep Guardiola’s men.

Guardiola had no complaints after this defeat that saw his side toppled off the Premier League summit by title rivals Liverpool, who had won their match earlier in the day.

In truth, after a tightly contested first half, the visitors were unlucky to have found themselves a goal down. Kante, who had found his performances come under scrutiny from his manager recently, slammed home the first goal after City’s defence failed to clear a loose ball following a Chelsea counter-attack.

A 78th minute header from David Luiz sealed the win for a Chelsea side flying high in Sarri’s first season as manager.  

"Congratulations Chelsea for the victory,” said an upbeat Guardiola, who delivered a lengthy and positive assessment of his side’s display. “We came here for an idea. It happened. We made a very, very good first half and unfortunately conceded from the only chance they had.

"They are so strong and in the second half the first eight to 10 minutes they were better but other than that we were fantastic. It is a joy as a manager to see my players.”

Guardiola was partially correct. Sarri’s players need to take credit for standing firm and taking the opportunity when it came their way.

Chelsea came into the match following recent defeats to Tottenham Hotspur, and last week, to Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Despite having their attitude questioned after the defeat in the Midlands, Sarri was full of praise of his players following this victory.

“We won today, but I think we have to say we were a bit lucky in the first 25 minutes, because they could have scored. We were a little bit lucky in the first half and very good in the second.

“Now we need to play with this level of determination, with the right aggression, in the other matches.”

He added: “I think that at the end we deserved to win. We are really very happy with the win because we know it is not easy to win against Manchester City.”

Both sides are playing in their respective European competitions this week before returning to Premier League action. Chelsea travel to Brighton next Sunday as Guardiola’s men look to bounce back from defeat in the league by hosting Everton.

Manchester City face Liverpool on January 3 in a match that will give a firm indication of the true title credentials of those two teams.