Manchester City made a flying start to their Premier League title race as they defeated the champions Chelsea on Sunday at Etihad Stadium.

Man City, 2013/2014 champions, dominated the opposition to whom they lost the title last season. Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho had a turbulent week as he was trapped in a controversy against his medical staff as well as his team dropped two-points against Swansea in their opening fixture.

Sergio Aguero opened the scoring for the hosts in the 31st minute after he was denied three times by Chelsea goalkeeper Asmir Begovic. The Argentine striker created space for himself in the Chelsea box and converted his effort. City’s captain Vincent Kompany doubled the lead in the 79th minute when he headed in David Silva’s corner and it was his second goal of the season.

Six minutes later, midfielder Fernandinho netted the third goal of the evening and it was all over for The Blues who struggled to make a comeback throughout the game. Chelsea made two changes that drew 2-2 with Swansea City as midfielder Oscar and suspended goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois sat on the bench. The only positive for Chelsea was the promising start to Begovic’s full Chelsea debut and he was in action in the opening minutes when he went down brilliantly to his left to save Aguero’s effort. Minutes later, he pulled off an almost identical save.

Chelsea played better in the second period as compared to the first one. Ramires has pulled his side level just five minutes into the second half but the assistant referee raised his flag for offside as the Brazilian wheeled off in celebration. Another goal scoring opportunity was wasted in the 70th minute when Eden Hazard fired straight at goalkeeper Joe Hart.

“To play against Chelsea is always difficult; they defend with lot of players and are fast on the counter-attack. But today we made a complete game, not only because we scored three goals but in the first 45 minutes we could have scored three more,” said Man City manager Manuel Pellegrini. IMAGE/Oli Scarff/AFP