MISMATCH
THIS is what Pep Guardiola’s imperious team can do, turn champions into ball-fearing chumps.
Strike impotence into a side whose canter to a title is still fresh in the memory, reduce one of the world’s most exciting players to a mere walking witness.
Yes, it was boss Antonio Conte who demanded an approach that was as negative as anything City have faced this season, one that will be pilloried for days to come, but there is some mitigation for that. Guardiola’s Premier League winners-in-waiting have such a formidable aura about them that even the likes of Conte are turned ultra-defensive. Either that or Conte, isolating Eden Hazard as the falsest of nines, might be trying to get himself the sack.
But what the Italian did at the Etihad was not vastly different to what he did against Barcelona at Stamford Bridge, the difference being that City press harder than even Barca, retrieve possession quicker than even Barca, keep the ball for longer than even Barca. Never mind the beauty, their physical commitment is remarkable.
Remember, they had a game on Thursday night, even though the return train journey was probably more of an exertion than duty at the Emirates.
This is a squad which is indefatigable in so many departments. No wonder Guardiola decided this was an occasion for every one of his players to get one of his hugs or headlocks.
There was special love for David Silva (left) when he was afforded his due acclaim by an added-time substitution.
This was David Silva at his sublime best, smuggling himself into so many threatening positions in the final third that you suspect he could get behind wallpaper.
His awareness is razor-sharp keen, sensing just a few seconds into the second half that Sergio Aguero might have some joy from a misunderstanding between Andreas Christensen and Cesar Azpilicueta, darting on to the pass and clipping over the 73rd assist of his Premier League career. The ability to ghost behind opponents must come with the name, Bernardo Silva nipping ahead of Marcos Alonso to shin in what turned out to be the goal that puts the Premier League leaders in a different county to the rest.
They are certainly in different league.
Guardiola also reserved an over-enthusiastic squeeze for Leroy Sane, who welcomed it as a teenager might welcome a cuddle from his mum outside the school gates.
Sane is too cool for all that stuff. Right now, he is too cool for every defender he torments.
Anti-football or not, Chelsea were at least disciplined and there was no conveyor belt of glaring City chances – Thibaut Courtois made only a couple of half-decent stops.
Yet his opposite number, Ederson, could have taken a book out with him, Victor Moses shanking Chelsea’s only real opportunity.
Moses had been the first-half victim of a reckless challenge from Oleksandr Zinchenko, the type easily punishable with red. Referee Michael Oliver opted for yellow instead but it probably would not have made much of a difference anyway.
As much as single-goal triumph can be, this was a formality from a long way out.
City completed 902 passes in the match, a record in the era of Premier League passing statistics.
The outcome of them was familiar – death by a thousand glorious cuts.
That is why it is best not to dwell on any enemies of football.
Best to dwell on City and Pep, football’s greatest friends. a