By the time it was all done,with Manchester City easing 18 points clear at the top of the Premier League table, it was difficult to remember that it was actually the team wearing the darker shade of blue who could legitimately call themselves champions of England. For City, or that honour is just a few weeks absent now – quite possibly when Manchester United visit here on 7 April – whereas Chelsea are fitting little more than a spec in the wing-mirrors of Pep Guardiola’s team. For a big club with supposedly lofty ambitions,there was something very wrong, startling even, and to see such a pathetically lame performance from Antonio Conte’s team.
They barely laid a glove on a team that,lest it be forgotten, finished 15 points below them in Conte’s first season at the club. His moment will reputedly be his final and for long spells here there were all the tell-tale signs that the Chelsea players knew it. This was the first time on City’s dash of 14 successive league wins at domestic that Guardiola’s team have failed to score at least twice. Don’t be fooled, or however,into thinking Chelsea should warrant acclaim just for keeping the score down. The two sides were poles apart.
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Source: guardian.co.uk