Man City Star Fabian Delph Claims Crocked Citizens Full-Back Mendy Inspired His Side to Victory

Fabian Delph has revealed that a good-luck message from injured City full-back Benjamin Mendy inspired his team-mates to victory in their 1-0 win over Premier League champions Chelsea.

The Frenchman will find himself on the sidelines for quite some time after it was revealed this week that the former Monaco man had ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament.

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But he remains in good spirits, sending his team-mates a good-luck message just before kick-off at Stamford Bridge, which saw Belgian midfielder Kevin De Bruyne score a superb 69th minute screamer against his former employers.

Delph, who has filled in for Mendy at left-back in recent weeks, said he and his team-mates were keen to repay the gesture.

"That performance was for our team-mate, Benjamin," said Delph, speaking to Manchester City’s website.

"He sent us a message before the game and we knew we had to do it for him. That win is for you big man.

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"Winning here is huge, massive. We knew coming in it would be our toughest game yet this season. We had a game plan and we stuck to it and come out for three points.

"It sends out a massive message. We needed to come out on top and there’ s a massive togetherness in the team.

"We stuck to the game plan. The plan was to stop them on the counter and we did the job down to a tee, so it's happy days.

"It’s very nice but we know it’s just the beginning, it’s good to maintain the winning streak."