STAMFORD BRIDGE — Manchester City for the title has not even been a whisper. Almost imperceptibly the idea is boxing our ears.
Up to fifth now with a game in hand. Win that and City are just one point behind the leaders. And this in the middle of a Covid crisis that forced the late postponement of their previous fixture at Everton.
City by stealth is another weird manifestation among the many distortions woven by this pandemic. While they have struggled to find a rhythm in a period of squad renewal the unprecedented circumstances engulfing the game have meant others have not got away. And so here we are, City nudging neighbours United and leaders Liverpool while Chelsea, well fancied themselves 10 games in, are host to introspection and doubt after a run of four points from 18.
City were without seven players, five with Covid, two injured, and a further miscreant benched after suffering with “let’s have a pandemic knees-up syndrome”. The appearance of Benjamin Mendy among the substitutes after his New Year’s Eve gathering raised many an eyebrow. Necessity the mother of policy and all that. As well as a diminishing pool from which to select, Pep Guardiola probably wanted Mendy where he could see him.
All things are relative, of course. City, for all their concerns, still had Sergio Aguero, Fernandinho and Riyad Mahrez on the bench. Nevertheless Chelsea saw more of the ball in the early stages, City more of the chances. A Rodri air shot was followed by an inexplicable miss by Kevin De Bruyne. Perhaps he took a too literal view of his role as a false nine. Had he been selected in midfield he might have tucked his shot away having done the hard bit to engineer space in the box.
No problem. Ilkay Gundogan showed him how with a fine finish from the edge of the box. De Bruyne was involved in the exchange of passes that led to the goal and grabbed himself an assist five minutes later, playing Phil Foden in for another slick execution. City were now at their imperious best despite the absentees, the ball fizzing about, the ronda fully optimised.
This was pretty much the pattern of the post-lockdown encounter in the summer when City schooled Chelsea in the first half but failed to find the net. Chelsea held on to nick two goals after the break to further the improving Chelsea narrative. Now Lampard is listing amidst talk of a crisis.
Objective measure of progress is difficult when the goals against are stacking up. For all the money spent on the goal guarantee that the Bundesliga fliers Timo Werner and Kai Havertz were meant to be, their assimilation seems to have weakened the Chelsea proposition. Too many crosses for the traditional centre forward that wasn’t there undermined their efforts. The case was not for one of Olivier Giroud or Tammy Abraham but, perhaps, for both.
After Rodri headed clear another Chelsea free-kick, N’Golo Kante’s attempt to put it back was met by the head of De Bruyne, who nutted it into the path of Raheem Sterling sprinting clear of the Chelsea defence. In an approximation of a training ground exercise, Sterling was driven wide after rounding the keeper, checked, turned, smashed a shot against the post, and who was there to gobble it up but De Bruyne for three-nil. Guardiola liked that one, his arms shooting skyward under the nose of Lampard.
City could have scored every time they crossed the halfway line. Sterling and De Bruyne were impossible to contain. Foden headed over, Gundogan back-heeled another chance wide. Chelsea were just desperate for half-time.
A little over three years ago City’s win here at the end of September, courtesy of a thunderous goal by De Bruyne, initiated the first degree of separation between City and the field under Guardiola. His first title was on its way, followed quickly by a second. Since then Guardiola has had to contend with the emphatic rise of Liverpool and a general levelling up elsewhere.
The likes of Vincent Kompany and David Silva are gone, Aguero and Fernandinho are managing decline. Guardiola has bought judiciously to round out the squad but the devastating superiority that was routinely theirs has not been his to conjure. Given this outcome might have been conditioned more by Chelsea’s failings than City’s strengths it could yet prove misleading.
But that is not how it felt as City bossed the late afternoon. De Bruyne was a monster Chelsea could not contain. Foden, Sterling and Silva played as if coated in mercury. Gundogan and Rodri were industrious anchors. The second half was conditioned by the first. City had the game won at half-time. Indeed, Callum Hudson-Odoi’s late strike was arguably the most underwhelming goal in the history of Stamford Bridge.
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