Manchester City laid down an early marker in this-should-be-an-exciting English Premier League season with an assured 3-0 victory over the champions Chelsea at the Etihad on Sunday.
Sergio Aguero, of course he did, scored the opening goal for Manchester City in the 32nd minute, after spurning numerous chances, before skipper Vincent Kompany made it 2-0 11 minutes from time, with Fernandinho adding the gloss late on.
In a week where Chelsea were embroiled in a story that was completely of Jose Mourinho's making, the champions could not quite put that talk to the back-burner as Manchester City outfought, outthought and outclassed their opponents.
Aguero should have scored earlier than 32 minutes, with the Argentine presented with several opportunities as City got off to a fast start, with that start finally coming to fruition via some magic from their main man.
Aguero played a one-two with Yaya Toure, who really does look back to his best, before wriggling past Gary Cahill, like only he can, to find some space and provide the needed finish, which had gone missing on several occasions earlier.
From there, you kept looking for that Chelsea reply, but apart from a half-chance here or there, it never came – Jose Mourinho made the changes, with John Terry substituted at halftime for Kurt Zouma, so that the Blues could play a high line.
Manchester City, after resisting a slight Chelsea surge early in the second half, where Diego Costa snarled and Eden Hazard flashed past once or twice, then put the nail in the coffin via Kompany's head, after the Chelsea captain outmuscled Branislav Ivanovic, who had another match to forget with Raheem Sterling giving him a torrid time, to guide the ball past the inside of the post.
If 2-0 wasn't enough, Manchester City added the icing on the cake with Fernandinho producing a beautiful low strike to the far corner.
