The 22nd round of the Premier League Manchester City's home battle against Chelsea's Battle of King's Hill is a game that kills the suspense of winning the Premier League this season, after a 1-0 win, Guardiola's team has extended the lead in the table to 13 points, although the Premier League schedule is still long this season, but this lead coupled with the tradition of Guardiola's league is as stable as an old dog, liverpool and Chelsea such catchers can only put aside their thoughts and go all out to fight for the cup.
In fact, Chelsea also made sufficient preparations for this game, although the lack of a major general, but goalkeeper Kepa and the defensive core Rudiger played a heroic role, once making Manchester City's attack helpless. It wasn't until the 70th minute of the second half that the home team finally broke the deadlock, and De Bruyne's earth-shattering long-range shot was beyond Kepa's whip, a goal that was the same as the long-range shot he scored when Manchester City challenged Chelsea in the 2017/18 season, and it is worth mentioning that Manchester City also won 1-0 in that game. Counting this game, De Bruyne has scored five goals against Chelsea, and among the many Chelsea veterans, this statistic is unparalleled.
It was De Bruyne's sixth Premier League goal of the season, behind Seven Goals Sterling and Bernardo Silva, ranking Third in Manchester City's Premier League top scorers list, and in 24 games this season, Tintin has scored seven goals, which is also the third in Manchester City's squad. However, in a proud assist statistic, De Bruyne is a bit ashamed, playing 16 Premier League games this season, his assists are only 1, even if the Champions League and domestic cups are combined, there are only 3 in total, which is too incompatible with his team's title of assist king.
Who is City's assist king this season? It was Left-back Cancelo, who assisted De Bruyne in this game, when he sent a precise direct pass in midfield to tear through Chelsea's defence, and N'Golo Kante struggled to add a sliding shovel to the ground and failed to break the ball, only to watch De Bruyne get rid of it laterally and shoot from a distance. This pass also showed Cancelo's broad vision and excellent footwork, after receiving this assist, he has reached 5 assists in the Premier League this season, setting a new record for his career single-season league assists, and in the Champions League, he also scored 3 assists, 8 assists in the Manchester City squad.
In the previous two Premier League seasons, Cancelo has only scored 6 assists in a total of 76 games, and the Premier League has only 3. This season, he has completely activated his assist attributes, sending precise passes to the feet of his teammates again and again. It is worth mentioning that as a defender, Cancelo turned out to be the most shot-on-goal player in Manchester City's Squad this season, with 21 Premier League games, and he has directly attacked opponents' goals a total of 44 times, which is on par with Manchester United striker Greenwood and higher than any other player in Manchester City. Fortunately, Cancelo has only scored 1 Premier League goal, and if the goals and assists are among the best, it will also make other Manchester City players live.
In fact, Cancelo has never been a perfect full-back, compared with Kyle Walker, his performance on the defensive end can only be considered decent, in the first season with Manchester City, Cancelo also seemed unsatisfactory, and even played for half a season before the idea of leaving the team, almost joined Bayern on loan. However, under guardiola's tutelage, Cancello has a reborn performance.
In City's no-frontal style of play, Canselo is no longer just a full-back, but often mentions the middle of the midfield, forming a de facto double back with the likes of Rodri or Fernandinho, thus liberating the likes of Gundogan and De Bruyne. In this position, Cancelo's wide vision, good big picture view and excellent passing ability are all vividly displayed. When De Bruyne was out of the squad due to injury, he was even directly arranged by Guardiola to play in the front, and he even had a good performance.
Today, Cancelo's performance in assists makes De Bruyne a little ashamed, and who is the real core of Manchester City will also become a topic of conversation among Manchester City fans. But just like the full blossom of the attack, Manchester City, which everyone can assist, is even more terrifying.