Manchester City 3-0 Chelsea

Manchester City laid down a significant early marker in the Premier League title race with a commanding dismissal of champions Chelsea at Etihad Stadium. 

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho's turbulent week - shaped by the controversy surrounding the demotion of medical staff Eva Carneiro and Jon Fearn - ended in misery as he saw his side outclassed by a resurgent City.

Sergio Aguero had been thwarted three times by Chelsea keeper Asmir Begovic before giving City a deserved lead just after the half-hour, an advantage they never looked like losing.

Things got chippy as Diego Costa went down under a an elbow from Fernandinho and Gary Cahill took a blow which bloodied his nose. When the halftime whistle sounded, Costa had to be restrained from Fernahdinho as the teams walked down the tunnel.

Jose Mourinho shocked many by taking John Terry off at halftime for Kurt Zouma instead of removing Cahill. Terry played every single Premier League minute last season for Chelsea.

Ramires had the first solid chance of the second half putting the ball in to the back of the net, but the linesman correctly called it back with Ramires just into an offside position. The teams went end to end in gripping fashion, but both teams managed to maintain its shape and organization.

Chelsea got another golden opportunity on the break after 65 minutes as Diego Costa checked the ball back to Hazard in the box while falling down, but the Belgian could only power his shot directly at Joe Hart.

Just as Chelsea brought on Radamel Falcao to add some attacking intent with 12 minutes remaining, Manchester City put the game away. A corner came into the box and Kompany beat Branislav Ivanovic in the air to nod a header inside the far post. Fernandinho put an exclamation mark on the game with six minutes to go by scorching the far post for City’s third.