Michy Batshuayi stepped off the bench to inspire Chelsea’s fightback as Antonio Conte’s side eased the pressure on its manager with a hard-fought 4-2 victory over Watford on Saturday.
Conte’s position has come under scrutiny after back-to-back Premier League defeats and claims of player unrest over his training methods.
The Italian appeared set for another difficult afternoon when Watford’s Abdoulaye Doucoure and Roberto Pereyra overturned Pedro’s glorious opening goal for the host.
But Batshuayi, on for Alvaro Morata, kickstarted the comeback in the 71st minute before completing the win with a second in the fifth minute of added time after Cesar Azpilicueta had restored Chelsea’s lead.
Meanwhile, Jose Mourinho admitted Manchester United paid the price for a lack of desire as it was out-fought by Huddersfield Town in a shock 2-1 defeat in Huddersfield.
Mourinho’s side was rocked by first-half goals from Aaron Mooy and Laurent Depoitre at the John Smith’s Stadium.
Marcus Rashford got one back in the closing stages, but it was too late to stop United suffering its first defeat in nine Premier League games this season.
The results:
Premier League: Manchester City 3 (Aguero 30-pen, Otamendi 73, Sane 75) bt Burnley 0; Stoke City 1 (Diouf 62) lost to Bournemouth 2 (Surman 16, Stanislas 18-pen); Huddersfield Town 2 (Mooy 28, Depoitre 33) bt Manchester United 1 (Rashford 78); Newcastle United 1 (Merino 86) bt Crystal Palace 0; Swansea City 1 (Mawson 56) lost to Leicester City 2 (Fernandez 25-og, Okazaki 49);
Chelsea 4 (Pedro 11, Batshuayi 71, 90+5, Azpilicueta 87) bt Watford 2 (Doucoure 45+3, Pereyra 49); West Ham United 0 lost to Brighton and Hove Albion 3 (Murray 10, 75-pen, Izquierdo 45+2).
La Liga: Real Betis 2 (Sanabria 13, Alexis 75-og) bt Alaves 0; Levante 1 (Morales 62) drew with Getafe 1 (Fajr 58).
Bundesliga: FC Augsburg 1 (Gregoritsch 33) lost to Hanover 96 2 (Fullkrug 76, 89); Eintracht Frankfurt 2 (Haller 64-pen, Wolf 68) drew with Borussia Dortmund 2 (Sahin 18, Philipp 57);
Borussia Moenchengladbach 1 (Johnson 7) lost to Bayer 04 Leverkusen 5 (Bender 48, Bailey 59, Brandt 61, Volland 69, Pohjanpalo 81); RB Leipzig 1 (Sabitzer 23) bt VfB Stuttgart 0; FC Schalke 04 2 (Goretzka 13, Burgstaller 74) bt Mainz 0 .
