Manchester City Clinical in Chelsea Demolition

The curious thing about being a Manchester City fan of a certain age is that even when watching the best footballing side I have ever seen, race into a 5:0 lead, I am still thinking that we are not safe yet and just need another goal.

The anxiety which comes from watching City is about years of gifting goals to other sides, of shooting ourselves in the foot, of being ‘typical City’. Even in recent memory this phenomena has been present. We lost to Wigan in a FA Cup FInal – a game I really wanted to win. So this is not just about old City pre takeover.

But City under Guardiola are beginning to purr into action and watching this side is quite unlike anything I have ever witnessed before. This was not about a team showboating, it was not about flicks and tricks. It was just hard fought and clinical from kick off. We are starting to come off the blocks from the starting whistle like Usain Bolt and opposition teams simply can not cope.

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Raheem Sterling opened the scoring after 4 minutes, smacking a wonderful shot into the Chelsea net following a free kick taken by Kevin De Bruyne who spotted the movement of Bernardo. Bernardo whipped the ball into the penalty area and it spun into the path of the onrushing Sterling. A couple of years ago Sterling would have missed that shot but its a sign of his improvement under Pep that we all expected him to score it.

Minutes later Sergio Aguero some how missed a simple tap in at the far post and we all feared the worst. But Aguero was angry and he seized the ball on the edge of the area and curled in a delightful shot to double the lead. Chelsea were beginning to feel besieged and it was not that they were poor, but just out thought at every turn.

Barkley headed the ball back towards his own keeper and Aguero nipped in and turned the ball past the goalkeeper. Aguero was hanging around in the space between the keeper and the defence, generally making a nuisance of himself but somehow had the deftness of touch to fashion a goal.

After another 6 minutes of pressing and passing and City were 4:0 up. This time it was the turn of Ilkay Gundogan who struck the ball first time from the edge of the area after receiving a misplaced clearance. City eased off the gears and the score remained unchanged until 10 minutes into the second half. Sterling was electric in this game and was brought down for a penalty which Aguero dispatched with customary coolness to seal his hat trick.

Sterling sealed the scoring in the 80th minute after smacking in a cross from Zinchenko from short range. There were a range of truly stand out performances in what may well have been the best single City performance I have ever seen, but overall my lasting impression is that this was a team performance of the highest level.

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City are back on top of the Premier League where they will sit until the next round of games, buoyed by a 10 goal cushion. City may have played more games but look in devastating form. The title will be won by the side with the most courage in these last few months and on this performance City look unlikely to fluff their lines.

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