Match report: Man City 4 Chelsea 0 - ENOUGH IS ENOUGH Chelsea is a big team

Chelsea exited a second domestic cup competition at the hands of Man City this season with the damage done in 15 first-half minutes. As in the Carabao Cup tie in November, a Riyad Mahrez free-kick broke the deadlock, on this occasion midway through the first half. It was 2-0 in no time when Julian Alvarez converted a penalty awarded after a VAR check for handball against Kai Havertz. Having been undone by a pair of set-pieces, a fluent move cut us open and produced a third goal for the champions before the break, Phil Foden the scorer. The second half was a closer contest but we couldn’t muster a shot on target, and City had the final word through another penalty, this one converted by Mahrez late on. The selection Graham Potter handed 19-year-old Bashir Humphreys his professional debut. He lined up next to Kalidou Koulibaly in central defence. The other positive for Potter pre-match was that he was able to welcome Mason Mount back into the side. They were two of six fresh faces. Trevoh Chalobah and Lewis Hall also started in defence, the latter having made his full debut at this stadium in the Carabao Cup tie prior to the World Cup. Ahead of them, Jorginho returned in midfield to partner Mateo Kovacic. However, Christian Pulisic and Raheem Sterling did not make the matchday squad having gone off injured early in Thursday’s league meeting. With Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang also not involved, in came Hakim Ziyech and Connor Gallagher. The bench included new signings Benoit Badiashile and David Datro Fofana, the latter coming on for the second half. Remembering Luca The Chelsea players warmed up in shirts with the number nine on the back in honour of Gianluca Vialli, who so sadly passed away on Friday. Our former striker and manager was also celebrated with a minute’s applause before kick-off, and the 7500-strong away support chanted Vialli’s name with extra vigour. As on Thursday, Chelsea started confidently. We beat City’s press on a couple of occasions early on to nearly fashion openings, although it was Kepa who was called into action first, smothering a low Mahrez cross. The Spaniard then got a slight touch on Cole Palmer’s shot when we had allowed the young City midfielder to break beyond our backline. Havertz’s touch eluded him when we tried to do likewise having impressively played out from the back. Mahrez again Midway through the first half, though, lightening struck twice. Not only did Mahrez win Thursday’s game, he had opened the scoring with a free-kick in the Carabao Cup tie here. The Algerian repeated the trick from further out this time, bending his strike into the top corner.