Man City revolution realising retribution in Premier League pursuit

Manchester City, it is fair to affirm with absolution, are back. Proffering poetic perfection, pairing power and pace, Manuel Pellegrini’s side imposed this on Chelsea with rambunctious ruthlessness.

Combining this with a warmongering will to win, City’s seamless symbiosis emerged effusive in practice. Effectively exiled from their own Premier League title defence last season as Jose Mourinho’s Blues claimed it at a canter, the faultless Etihad surface bore no signs of dust as Manuel Pellegrini’s men rose from the ashes, with a fire still burning.

In Sergio Aguero, they have their very own phoenix; corroborating capability to carry great loads. The Argentine, who led the line under pressure last term and won the Premier League Golden Boot award, looks, if it was possible, even better.

Taking less than a minute to breach that once impregnable backline, only the feet of second-choice Chelsea custodian Asmir Begoivc kept him out. Persistence personified, Aguero finally found a way through. After seeing two identical efforts saved, he changed tack, his hunger paying off.

All of a sudden, even the glitz of the Gunners appeared little league in comparison to the swashbuckling style emanating from the Etihad home team.

Captain Vincent Kompany is once again the indomitable force of two seasons ago and a couple more before that; no accident that these were title winning campaigns. He has two goals in successive matches while, for Yaya Toure, at a club owned by a prince, it is clearly a case of return of the king, after apparent abdication.

Throwing off their easily earned tag of last season as ageing aspirators for trophies, City fizzed like fireworks, blazing trails all over the pitch. David Silva serves up a medley of magical openings.

Like an actor becomes their character while performing, silky Spaniard Silva embodies a master key to a lock with many possible combinations on a stage where he is a natural. With a razor-sharp instinct, teams switch off with him on the ball at their peril.