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For all the ructions of Chelsea’s summer and the potential for huge upheaval this season, the campaign has started in as predictable a manner as it could have. Erling Haaland scored. Manchester City won 2-0. There was even the little lesson of Mateo Kovacic scoring the clinching goal after beating the two £200m-plus midfielders signed to replace him, with Enzo Fernandez not exactly showing the kind of resolve that would be expected of a captain.
His temporary elevation to that status will bring questions after a summer where he was forced to apologise to teammates after being caught on video chanting racist and homophobic slurs against members of the French team amid Argentina’s Copa America celebrations.
It was almost fitting that the game had two off-field stories before it – or the season – had even started. That came with the Chelsea line-up, which should be less surprising given that the sheer number of players is going to create issues every week.
More notable than anyone left was who had the captain’s armband. If that seems like quite a statement, it preceded an actual statement from Raheem Sterling after he was left out of the squad altogether. That all comes amid a recruitment policy that continues to cause surprise in the game.
Another reminder was when Conor Gallagher’s name was chanted shortly after Haaland scored, the English midfielder having essentially been forced to join Atletico Madrid.
The wonder is whether the very consequence of these games could be affected, given that both of these clubs are currently the subjects of the two biggest investigations in Premier League history. There is the real possibility that both are docked points. City insist on their innocence.
It is still the weight that hangs over everything until it actually is resolved.
The oddity was that, even though virtually everything has changed at Chelsea, the issues are so familiar.
This was an encouraging performance where you could see a shape coming together under Enzo Maresca, much like Mauricio Pochettino, but they were still lacking the finishing touches. That was very literal at times, as there were so many moments when Chelsea had the ball around Ederson’s box and were just begging for that strike. Nicolas Jackson was as exciting and as frustrating as ever. It is remarkable how he combines the most exhilarating clear breaks with the most baffling finishes. There is obviously such a good player there but it is one that requires work.
Maybe the biggest question is whether Chelsea can be that kind of environment. Jackson was far from the only player culpable, of course, Christopher Nkunku, often so capable of just unleashing a shot and already cast as someone who can offer the solution this team needs, was strangely hesitant when an opportunity presented itself in the first half.
If you can obviously see why Chelsea are still talking to Victor Osimhen’s camp, and internally discussing Ivan Toney, Haaland made the necessity abundantly clear. He showed them how it’s done. The 18th-minute goal was a piece of utterly brilliant forward play, maybe the perfect example of a striker in the box. After a divine touch from Bernardo Silva, Haaland used his immense strength and superb instinct for space to put himself clear of the Chelsea defenders around him and fire the ball into the net. It was brilliant.
It was also just as well, since so many of City’s players evidently aren’t yet at the physical level of the Norwegian. You can tell he’s had the summer off. Guardiola otherwise didn’t start any of the players involved in the Euro 2024 final – in contrast to Marc Cucurella and Cole Palmer in the opposition – with Phil Foden, Kyle Walker and John Stones on the bench, and Rodri not yet ready to be in the squad.
You could maybe recognise that Croatia went out early, too, given what Mateo Kovacic did late on. Or maybe he is just a better midfielder, in a better system, than what Chelsea have. Kovacic simply sauntered past their £200m-plus midfield to strike past Robert Sanchez. This wasn’t the leadership that would have been wanted from Fernandez, as he and Moises Caicedo were just left behind.
City evidently have more to come, as they go for a record fifth successive title. Chelsea have so much more to do.
It’s just that there might still be so much more upheaval to come. For now, the season’s opening game simply went entirely as expected.
