City Watch: Kovacic back to haunt Chelsea

The Premier League has officially returned, the away days, the long journeys, last minute winners, controversial decisions, incredible goals and relentless drama are back for another season.

Manchester City began their title defence and search for a fifth league title in a row against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, the seventh time in a row that the Blues have played away from home in the curtain raiser.

Doubts were instantly thrown around how City may perform in London when Pep Guardiola announced that Rodri was unavailable for selection, a scary thought considering that in three of the four occasions we played without the Spaniard in the league last season, the game ended in defeat.

Even Pep admitted in his press conference before the weekend that the motivation to go for another Premier League title simply isn’t there at the start of the season, but would come towards the end of the campaign, and honestly, I don’t blame them in some ways. It must be difficult as a player to motivate yourself after being so successful for so long, but that’s what makes the achievements so impressive.

Regardless, in what I thought to be a fairly even contest throughout, City managed to take a 2-0 win and three points from capital, with Haaland opening the scoring in the first half and former Chelsea player, Mateo Kovacic,  doubling the lead towards the end of the second period, displaying a muted celebration against his former club. I thought Kovacic was one of the standout performers along with Rico Lewis. As mentioned earlier, the thought of Rodri not playing sent shivers down my spine before the game, but the Croatian was excellent defensively, cleaning up on his mistakes and always had a forward thinking role during the game, eventually getting his reward with the goal.

Rico Lewis I thought was also exceptional, a player who easily could be criticised for his height being a defender, but his football intelligence is incredibly impressive in an attacking and defensive sense. He stopped a certain goal from a cross destined for Pedro Neto and scored one of his own at the other end which was unfortunately ruled out for offside. I can see him being a serious contender for Pep’s starting XI each week the season and I’d personally love to see a breakout for the academy graduate, just like we’ve seen with Phil Foden in the past.

The win also meant that City are unbeaten against Chelsea since May 2021, the dreaded Champions League final that the Blues lost. Pep’s side also set a new record, I know, another one! That being that the Blues have become the first ever side to win 10 consecutive Premier League games on the bounce by two or more goals.

There really hasn’t been much transfer news to report over the summer, with City being relatively quiet in the transfer window, only signing Savinho and offloading Julian Alvarez. However, reports have emerged over the last few days that after just one season with Barcelona, Ilkay Gundogan wants to leave the Spanish giants, with his preferred destination being a return to Manchester.

I’d absolutely love to see the German back at the Etihad, he may have lost a yard of pace with his ages, however, his contributions, especially towards the end of each season, were priceless and the team could do with a figure like him around again considering how many youngsters are coming through and becoming more involved.

By the next edition of City Watch, we will hopefully know the conclusion of the Gundogan saga, but before that, Manchester City now face newly promoted Ipswich Town, this weekend, our first Saturday 3pm kick off of the season, with the Blues aiming to continue their long unbeaten run at the Etihad Stadium.