We will find out a great deal about Chelsea’s Premier League title aspirations and intentions on Sunday.
It is only seven months ago that the Blues paid their last visit to the Etihad Stadium for a league fixture (we will gloss over a subsequent FA Cup defeat up there) but it feels like longer.
Although boss Jose Mourinho vigorously denied the general consensus that he parked the bus that day, there is little doubt that he prepared his team to frustrate and maximise their ability to play on the break.
His team had possession only a third of the time, yet still fashioned the better chances and deserved the 1-0 win courtesy of a fine strike from Branislav Ivanovic.
It was a masterclass in the art of great defending and counter-attacking, which arguably gave Mourinho his greatest moment last season. And if there is a default approach to a high-stakes match associated with the Portuguese it is exactly that.
He regularly protests to the contrary, pointing out the exploits of a goal-hungry Real Madrid he guided to the La Liga title a couple of years ago.
But you think of the first Chelsea title-winning side he built, with its miserly defence, and the Inter team that thwarted a then-rampant Barcelona on their way to 2010 Champions League success, and you have the model upon which he has built his amazing career.
Yet this year’s Chelsea is undoubtedly a notch above the team of last season, as Mourinho had promised.
It is not just the lethal finishing from Diego Costa either. Cesc Fabregas is adding guile and vision. Nemanja Matic – so vital in that win at Man City in February – is growing stronger as he adapts to the new league. Andre Schurrle offers greater pace and energy than before and the bench carries more menace.
Six or seven of the team that started in that last league encounter could start again, but there will be a fresh look about the line-up.
So will the temptation be for Jose to fight fire with fire and trade blows with the Premier League champions on Sunday? Will he see this as a glorious chance to lay down a significant marker that would intimidate all others with title pretentions, and not just City?
Arsenal, believing themselves to be the equal of Manuel Pellegrini’s side, tried it last season and came unstuck spectacularly, losing 6-3 at the Etihad.
But Chelsea, better organised than the Gunners and less prone to being gung-ho for the sake of it, are capable of causing serious damage.
There were worrying – and very un-Jose – signs of Chelsea losing shape and getting exposed during a lacklustre first half against Swansea on Saturday. Midfield runners were rushing forward, the team were not closing down as a group and Swansea could easily have been two or even three goals ahead.
But that will surely not happen on Sunday. Lessons were swiftly learned and put into place during an impressive second half.
And the six goals they put past Everton at Goodison Park last month must give them the feeling that anything is possible with the class of 2014-15.
Mourinho will have noted that Mark Hughes managed to put a spanner in the Man City works recently when his Stoke side poached a 1-0 win in Manchester with a performance straight out of the Chelsea manager’s manual.
Will he revert to type himself or go for the jugular?
The smart money surely must be on a more adventurous approach, albeit with a familiar sprinkling of caution, and that would be a significant change from last season.
We will not see a repeat of the blanket defensive work that characterised the win at City and 0-0 draws at Arsenal and Man United, when the starting line-up included no recognised striker.
All-out attack it certainly won’t be, but this is now a team built to go forward, bristling with creativity and flair in the final third – and full of goals and entertainment.
They would be short-changing themselves if they retreated into a shell.
A win would take the Blues eight points clear of City – a significant margin given Chelsea’s fine start.
And while it is way too early for any one result to determine the likely destination of this season’s title, it is not too early to come up with a significant performance and approach that defines the way a season is likely to pan out.
If the Blues manage to carry the same attacking threat when they are faced with one of their toughest assignments of the season, then the evolution from last season really will have taken a quantum leap, regardless of whether it brings three points.
Roman Abramovich is clearly getting excited by the Chelsea project once more – we saw that in the owner’s unrestrained celebrations last Saturday as the more expansive approach paid off against Swansea.
A victory over City – achieved more through attacking bustle than defensive bus – would send out a very strong and slightly daunting message to the rest of the contenders.
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This post was last modified on 21/09/2014