Pretenders Manchester City showed that they can become genuine title contenders this season with their 1-0 victory over champions Chelsea at Eastlands last Saturday.
Of course, it was Roman Abramovich’s Chelsea who most recently broke the Arsenal and Manchester United Premier League cartel when they landed their second and third English league titles under the guidance of self-assured Portuguese coach Joes Mourinho in 2005 & 2006.
It took the Blues just two seasons to land the title under their Russian billionaire, while the same amount of time has already elapsed since the Abu Dhabi United Group completed their whirlwind takeover of City on deadline day in August 2008. Under Italian coach Carlo Ancelotti, Chelsea returned to the summit of English football with a league and cup Double last season and have looked impressive again this time around. However their untimely and first league defeat of the season to Mancini’s City slickers has raised questions over their title defence.
Roberto Mancini’s side made a statement of intent by ending the champion’s flawless start to the season and must now capitalise against Newcastle and Blackpool in their next two games. Something which winning goalscorer Carlos Tevez was keen to point out to his team-mates after the game.
“We always play very well against the big teams, but the important thing now is we concentrate and play the same game against the smaller teams,” Tevez said.
“If we can do that it will take us to the next level,” he added.
It seemed the best City could aim for this season was a top four finish after following up their 3-0 drubbing of Liverpool with a defeat away to Sunderland and a draw at home to Blackburn. City still look patchy and inconsistent, remaining flaws which undermined last term’s campaign. Yet last season the top four lost an astonishing 32 games between them, compared to 17 the season before, and there have again been surprise results this season. The trend again suggests the big sides will not have it all their own way and City remain just four points behind the leaders Chelsea. City have time to amend their inconsistency and will not be the only side at the top to lose surprise points this season.
City spent over £100m on players such as Yaya Toure and David Silva over the summer and Mancini is still very much in the process of developing and fine-tuning his side. City have yet to hit top gear this season and it is sure to happen sooner rather than later with the talent at Mancini’s disposal. His bench against Chelsea read- Shay Given, Emmanuel Adebayor, Adam Johnson, Jerome Boateng, Joleon Lescott, Patrick Vieira and Jo. The majority of whom would walk into most other Premier League sides.
Defeated Chelsea captain John Terry believes City are genuine title contenders, while Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson cranked up the pressure by claiming Mancini must win something this season given the amount he has spent. Mancini himself has tipped Chelsea for the title but will remain quietly confident in his side’s ability to put together a winning sequence of results. Spanish winger Silva certainly thinks City can bridge the gap at the top this season, claiming:
“Chelsea have a very large team, and are very strong competitors but if we continue in this line, we can fight for the title. Our objective is to be champions.”
A fruitless campaign could spell the end for Mancini and his City reign. We will know a lot more about City’s ability to launch a challenge after their next two results and the performances that go with them. Should the expensively assembled squad heed the advice of captain Tevez and start to find a consistency to their game, then they may finally be able to remove that famous banner at Old Trafford celebrating City’s 34-year wait for a trophy.
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