Chelsea exposed by serene City as mystery shrouds Sterling’s absence

It is just as well that Enzo Maresca insists that he is under no immediate pressure to deliver Champions League football at his new club. There is so much work for him to do, so much juggling of a bloated and young squad that he must retire each evening with quite the migraine.
There is much to admire individually in the players who saw action against Manchester City but they require direction and a sense of belonging at a great club. Collectively they seemed to be like the side you put out in the summer holidays for your local college not knowing who is abroad or available. City, without the exceptional Rodri, will probably never be as ripe for an unravelling but the home side simply did not know how to impose themselves sufficiently to make them wobble and so Pep Guardiola’s team glided serenely in the golden glow of the west London sunshine.
There were, before kick-off, all manner of doubts about the direction taken by Chelsea’s ownership group with the emphasis seemingly on hoovering up players with a deft touch and dash of speed as long as they are young and relatively inexperienced. But while such a philosophy may reap long-term dividends, on the pitch there was a glaring anomaly.
Defensively, Chelsea lack maturity after the departure of Thiago Silva and all defences need a wily, seen-it-all defender. But, still, there was experience elsewhere. Raheem Sterling, at 29, has stacks of knowledge and a good track record when facing his former club. And yet, curiously, he was nowhere to be seen, not even among the substitutes. The winger has asked for an explanation but we all need one beyond the manager calling it “a technical decision”.
This is a club veering towards a theme park rather than a trip to the theatre. Where was the balance? It is as illogical as the pre-match firework display, which served to add unnecessary swelter on a hot day.
Savinho, on his Premier League debut for City, switched wings 15 minutes into the contest to give Jérémy Doku a chance to exploit the space on the left and this proved a masterstroke with Doku feeding a ball into Erling Haaland that the rather lacklustre and not so savvy Chelsea defence failed to clear, allowing the Norwegian to open his account for the campaign. A smiling Haaland, speaking on Sky Sports, was not shy to call it a great goal and he certainly used his strength and balance to wriggle into space to dink the ball over Robert Sánchez and he said that he was inspired by how the Chelsea goalkeeper had denied him from a similar effort last season.
It was the cue for the Chelsea fans to sing the name of Conor Gallagher who had in many of their eyes been treated shabbily by the club and was not even included on the squad list on the back of the match-day programme in spite of being a crucial player last season.
Not to be outdone, Savinho sparked into life and began to terrorise down the right flank, which put the home team under pressure and led to Sanchez producing a fine reaction save off a fierce and deflected Doku strike.
A Cole Palmer effort was fumbled by Ederson and Nicolas Jackson was in the right place to pounce on the loose ball but the striker was immediately judged offside.
Although the distribution of Sánchez was occasionally erratic, the Chelsea goalkeeper pulled off another important save, this time from a crisp Haaland shot at the start of the second half.
The first warm roar was issued when Pedro Neto came off the bench to replace the rather uninvolved Christopher Nkunku. The former Wolves winger’s first involvement was to force a corner and his arrival acted as a catalyst for the home side just as they were in danger of languishing in the late afternoon sunshine. Maresca had asked for more energy beforehand and here was an illustration why he needed to go public with his plea.
Ederson denied Jackson from close range as the game inched towards improved entertainment value while at the other end a Haaland foul on Levi Colwill meant that Rico Lewis was denied a goal after placing the ball past Sánchez.
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Much was made of Chelsea’s lack of an identity last season when managed by Mauricio Pochettino. What character and style they had was largely defined by the home grown Gallagher but also, increasingly, by Marc Cucurella and what gave Maresca’s team their vibe here was the sprightly, intelligent and committed performance of the Spain Euro 2024 winning full back. His energy levels had begun to dip when he was replaced in the 80th minute but he must be one of the most coveted of defenders given his tactical flexibility and wholeheartedness.
Without him on the pitch trying to knit together the disparate elements of the team, Chelsea reverted to being introverts and Mateo Kovacic, as if sensing the lull, stormed past the expensive pairing of Moisés Caicedo and Enzo Fernández to score one of his all too rare wonder goals. The former Chelsea midfielder tried not to celebrate but you could sense his inner delight. Guardiola called him “a top class person” which underlined how much his former club must miss him.
The 4-4 draw when City visited Chelsea last season was voted, unsurprisingly, the game of last season’s Premier League. This was not a patch on that and already something feels awry at Stamford Bridge. Chelsea are a club slowly morphing into an entity that is unrecognisable from the one that was so tough to beat and always in the conversation for trophies. It may emerge from this experimental phase as something admirable but right now the mood music is one of confusion.
Meanwhile, anyone who doubts that Guardiola has the appetite for yet another campaign especially with the phantom of the 115 charges that loiter in the shadows and could result in a significant points deduction, then they need only to acknowledge his perky body language and desire to talk about his players’ attributes. Haaland has now scored 91 goals in 100 games for City and, according to his manager, is more energised than he was in the previous campaign, with Guardiola comparing his goal returns to those of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
Chelsea (4-2-3-1): R Sánchez 6- M Cucurella 8 (R Veiga, 80), L Colwill 5, W Fofana 5, M Gusto 6 — R Lavia 6 (K Dewsbury-Hall, 67 5), M Caicedo 6 — C Nkunku 5 (P Neto, 58 6), E Fernández 6, C Palmer 6 —N Jackson 7 (M Guiu Paz, 67). Booked: Caicedo.
Manchester City (4-1-4-1): Ederson 6- J Gvardiol 7, R Dias 7, M Akanji 7, R Lewis 7 — M Kovacic 8 — J Doku 7, K De Bruyne 6, B Silva 6, Savinho 6 (P Foden, 46 5) — E Haaland 7. Booked: Haaland.
Referee: A Taylor.