Manchester City 3 Chelsea 0
Vincent Kompany and Fernandinho scored late goals to seal a resounding Manchester City victory.
Sergio Aguero netted just after the half-hour mark at the Etihad Stadium, coolly controlling David Silva’s ball into the box and then steering his shot beyond Asmir Begovic.
And Kompany headed in Silva’s corner before Fernandinho smashed home from the edge of the penalty area after some dismal defending by champions Chelsea, who had a decent spell in the second half but were comprehensively beaten by their title rivals.
City dominated the first half and keeper Begovic, playing in place of the suspended Thibaut Courtois, produced three fine saves to temporarily prevent Aguero opening the scoring.
The summer signing from Stoke made a superb block to deny Aguero and he was soon called into action again, this time after the striker had been set up by Aleksandar Kolarov.
The Bosnian also did brilliantly to save Aguero’s first-time strike from Jesus Navas’ low cross.
Aguero then missed a great chance when he poked wide after John Terry had failed to clear Raheem Sterling’s left-wing cross.
But he made no mistake following good work by Silva – the Argentine’s 10th goal in his last nine Premier League matches.
Eliaquim Mangala should have doubled City’s lead just before the break when he beat Begovic – who accidentally punched Gary Cahill in the face – to Kolorov’s cross only to head wide of the target.
Blues defender Cahill recently suffered a broken nose and again found himself with a bloodied face.
However, it was Terry who did not appear for the second half. He was replaced by Kurt Zouma – the first time in 177 matches the Chelsea captain has been substituted by boss Jose Mourinho.
The visitors were much improved in the second half and thought they had equalised when Ramires flicked the ball into the net after being found by Eden Hazard, but the Brazilian was adjudged to be marginally offside.
But overall they were alarmingly out of sorts. Branislav Ivanovic giving the ball away in the build-up to the third goal summed up Chelsea’s day – and the defender’s dismal start to the season.
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This post was last modified on 16/08/2015