Man City record Pep Guardiola´s lowest possession percentage in 381 games while beating Chelsea

Manchester City claimed a valuable Premier League victory over Chelsea on Saturday, despite recording the lowest share of possession any Pep Guardiola side has managed in a top-flight game.

During his stints in charge of Barcelona, Bayern Munich and City, Guardiola has become synonymous with dominance of the ball.

Yet his side’s 2-1 win against Chelsea at the Etihad Stadium, secured by goals from Kevin De Bruyne and Riyad Mahrez after N’Golo Kante had given the visitors the lead, was notable for City managing a possesion figure of just 46.74 per cent, according to official Opta data.

That represents the lowest figure any Guardiola side has registered in 381 top-flight games.

46.74 – Man City’s possession figure of 46.74 today is the lowest recorded by a side managed by Pep Guardiola in any of his 381 top-flight matches in charge. Academic. #MCICHE

— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) November 23, 2019

“It’s not that easy, people expect us to have 70 per cent of the possession, but these guys [Chelsea] have a lot of quality,” said ex-Blues midfielder De Bruyne in a post-match interview with Sky Sports.

“It shows the other side we have, that we can control the game while defending and that’s also good for us.”

2-1 #MCICHE #ManCity pic.twitter.com/apcwSbwoP1

— Manchester City (@ManCity) November 23, 2019