Blue Days

City recorded their most impressive victory of the season so far thanks to a goal from Carlos Tevez and a defensive performance to rank alongside the best in the clubs recent history. With the same defenders as Mark Hughes had available, it doesn’t take a Match of the Day analyst to see where Mancini has had the greatest effect.

With injuries accounting for four players likely to have played full-back, this was a real testament to Italian managerial organisation and motivation. Dedryck Boyata was the young central defender asked to play right-back and did so with great composure and beautifully timed tackling.

Hart – With brilliant protection in front of him, Joe picked up another clean sheet with a minimum of fuss. A few straightforward saves combined with better judgement in coming off his line than we sas in the Blackburn game. 7

Boyata (Boateng, 88) – Outstanding, bearing in mind he played a full match on Wednesday night, and isn’t a right-back. Mancini showed real faith in the teenager by not giving him obvious cover with a Milner type player in front. Chelsea kept working Dedryck and he kept coming up with the answers. 9

And so we move from defeat to West Brom’s second string to the Champions. Carlo Ancelotti’s freescoring side pose our biggest test so far yet it shouldn’t be forgotten we also pose theirs.

Roberto Mancini came through the opening fixtures against Tottenham and Liverpool with four points, and will be looking for a performance at least as good as we provided against Roy Hodgson’s side. One thing’s for sure, after we did the double over them last season, Chelsea won’t be underestimating us.