N'Golo Kante opened the scoring as Chelsea took the lead against Manchester City in the first half of their Premier League appearance.
Earlier on Saturday Liverpool required a late Roberto Firmino goal to secure all three points and take them further ahead of the champions, piling on the pressure.
But instead of getting a reaction out of Pep Guardiola's side it was Frank Lampard's Chelsea who started the better in the two side's game on Saturday evening.
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After 21 minutes the Blues' dominance paid off with Mateo Kovacic playing a brilliant ball for Kante's run, the Frenchman took one touch and then managed to bend his foot round the ball and place it past Ederson.
Lampard looked to have taken a more pragmatic approach to his line up with Mason Mount being dropped in favour of a midfield three of Kante, Kovacic and Jorginho.
But after 21 minutes it was certainly working against City's three of Rodri, Kevin de Bruyne and David Silva, dominating the first quarter of the match.
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The west London side weren't ahead for long though. City started getting back into the game and just eight minutes later were level.
De Bruyne cut in from the edge of the area and his shot took a deflection to take it past Kepa.
Chelsea, who started the game above their hosts in the league table, continued to have their moments but Guardiola's team were getting stronger and stronger as the half went on.
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On 37 minutes City took the lead for the first time and it was an absolute doozy of a goal. Riyad Mahrez collected the ball on the right wing, beat two defenders as he cut in and the curled the ball past Kepa into the bottom corner.
City's previous game had been their loss to Liverpool, which left the Reds nine points clear of their rivals, and they're in need of hitting back with three points.
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