Don’t forget about us!
CITY FIRE WARNING SHOT TO LIVERPOOL AND UNITED
It was always a matter of when, not if. Sooner or later, Manchester City were going to present their credentials as title contenders. Before the business end of the 2020-21 campaign begins in earnest they were going to deliver a display to remind us all of the arsenal Pep Guardiola has at his disposal. And here it was.
this has been coming. City’s squad is too good, its possibilities too many, to spend another season peering at the highest achievers from the hinterland. In this most open of seasons, there was always going to be a moment when we were reminded of City’s immense potential.
Leaving Stamford Bridge yesterday, nobody was in any doubt. Brighton, Crystal Palace, Aston Villa, West Brom, Sheffield United and Burnley are up next for City. It is fair to say: game on.
City dismantled Chelsea in the first half, haring to a three-goal lead in 34 minutes and refusing to surrender so much as a sliver of it until a Callum Hudson-Odoi goal deep into injury time.
Frank Lampard did not even celebrate that. By then his face was set to quietly furious. His employer had spent close on £200million this summer trying to assemble a forward line as dangerous and efficient as Manchester City’s, but this campaign is unravelling fast. As dramatically as Chelsea are fading — four defeats and a draw in their last six Premier League games — so City’s threat is beginning to form.
this was a team ravaged by Covid-related absences and injuries, yet such is their strength in depth they barely skipped a beat, bar an early handling error from understudy goalkeeper Zack Steffen. Most ominously, Sergio Aguero appeared as an 85th-minute substitute, beside Riyad Mahrez.
Jurgen Klopp is calling on kids, Pep Guardiola — in one case at least — on bona fide club legends. there was a gulf between these teams which suggests trouble ahead for Lampard unless Roman
Abramovich has learned the value of patience. Chelsea spent to close the gap, but as City took control, it looked wider than ever.
the irony is that Chelsea invested their latest fortune trying to find a player similar to the one Manchester City recruited for nothing — and often appear mystifyingly reluctant to utilise. What would Abramovich have given for a recruit of Phil Foden’s calibre, one who finishes like a striker, creates like a midfield player and displays the confidence of a professional 10 years his senior?
Foden, and Kevin De Bruyne naturally, were the instigators helping City race to a near unassailable first-half lead, ripping the initiative from Chelsea and delivering the type of scoreline that will have
resonated higher up the table. City may still be outside the top four on goal difference after this but, undeniably, they are coming on strong.
Chelsea didn’t start badly, and maybe there’s the clue. They saw plenty of the ball but lacked the cutting edge to do much with it. Manchester City, by contrast, did not start a conventional striker, but once they came into the game looked like scoring every time they attacked.
If they did not add to their half-time total it was mainly because of the odd big miss, and energy conservation. The job was done, Chelsea shocked into creative silence by the swiftness of City’s victory. Their first two goals were separated by just 157 seconds, one scored, one made, by Foden.
Why doesn’t he start more often? Only Guardiola can answer that. This was only Foden’s second League start since defeating Arsenal on October 17, yet he was outstanding.
Yes, City often have an overload of forward talent, but Foden at his best is pretty close to the summit. De Bruyne is arguably the finest midfielder in the Premier League right now, but one day Foden will surely have earned that accolade.
It was little more than a flick to set up City’s 18th-minute opener, but it was all that was needed, the perfect intervention to provide Ilkay Gundogan’s third goal in four games.
City had moments earlier served warning with a move that swept majestically from back to front, John Stones to Raheem Sterling to Joao Cancelo and finally De Bruyne, through, but steering his finish wide.
Just three minutes later, though, an attack down the opposite flank left Chelsea exposed. It was left back Oleksandr Zinchenko’s flat square pass that was moved on neatly by Foden into the path of Gundogan. He opened his body which was enough to swerve the attentions of Thiago Silva, before planting a splendid shot past goalkeeper edouard Mendy.
Chelsea barely had time to draw breath before they were beaten again. This time Silva was first to a tackle against Foden, the ball unfortunately returning to De Bruyne, who gathered his composure and redelivered it with greater accuracy second time around. By now Foden, too, had recovered and defeated Mendy from close range at his near post.
After a promising start following the trials of Kepa Arrizabalaga, the new man in Chelsea’s goal is not entirely inspiring confidence these days.
Goal three was what happens when a team are rattled: elementary mistakes. The build-up actually began with a Chelsea free-kick, cleared and falling to N’Golo Kante who attempted to recycle it in haste. Too much haste, as it turned out, his pass intercepted and played in behind Kante for Sterling now one- on- one with Mendy and 50 yards to consider his options. Kante tailed him, in forlorn desperation.
Sterling dillied and dallied, as the song goes, dallied and dillied, lost his way and ended up taking it wide of Mendy but with the area now packed by recovered blue shirts. He tried a curling shot from an awkward angle which hit the far post and rebounded out, but while Chelsea were mentally computing their good fortune, they failed to notice the ball had landed, once again, at the feet of De Bruyne. It cannot be coincidence that this keeps happening and, swiftly, the ball was in the net, which suggests as much.
It was only the second time in the PL era that Chelsea have conceded three at home before half-time, and it could have been worse after 44 minutes. De Bruyne found Foden once more and his cross was heelflicked by Gundogan, travelling just wide.
It could have been the best goal of the lot, certainly far easier was the chance after eight minutes of the second half, when a De Bruyne free-kick set up a free header for Rodrigo, tipped over superbly by Mendy.
This felt a significant win and Guardiola appeared to sense that, too. He compared the performance level to previous titlewinning seasons.
Chelsea, meanwhile, have 26 points from 17 games, an aggregate return that has never seen them finish higher than sixth in the Premier League era. Not a big fan of sixth, Lampard’s boss.