Manchester City's Pep Guardiola has revealed his admiration for Frank Lampard's Chelsea side, despite their 2-1 win over the Blues.
City only had 46.74% possession during the game, the lowest recorded by a Guardiola side in his 381 top-flight matches as a manager.
N'Golo Kante gave Chelsea the lead, before Guardiola's men turned it around, thanks to goals from Kevin De Bruyne and Riyad Mahrez.
"After we conceded the goal, we suffered a little bit and in the best moment we had, we scored from Kevin," Guardiola told Sky Sports.
"After, we missed a lot of chances and the position for the last pass.
"Second half, we controlled it. We lost some balls in a difficult position. They are masters to read the pass and to read the interception. [Chelsea] are a top side but we fought a lot.
"We adjusted some things, we had some problems from them, and we controlled better [in the second half] apart from the last minutes. [We were] tired, [had] injuries and we suffered.
"They are so good, they are an incredible team. It's Chelsea. When you see in the last 20 years, Chelsea aren't a bad side. The last six or seven years, City won more titles but before that, it was Manchester United and Chelsea - they were the best.
"Before teams [were] just defending and use the counter-attack, now teams have the courage to use young managers, they have players with spirit, nothing to lose and they go forward, play football that is nice.
"You can see the top teams are all playing incredibly well. Leicester, Liverpool, our team, Chelsea."
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