The Chelsea manager branded his side's heavy defeat a 'fake' in the immediate aftermath, but Manuel Pellegrini's men have laid down an early marker, writes Peter Staunton.

If only it could play Chelsea every week. Manchester City capitalized on its routine 3-0 demolition of West Bromwich Albion on matchday one in the Premier League by doing similar to Jose Mourinho's bedraggled Blues. On the evidence of it, Chelsea is closer to West Brom than it is to City, despite what the manager might say about it.

"If 1-0 was a doubtful result at minute 70, 3-0 is completely fake," Mourinho spat to Sky Sports. "At 1-0 Chelsea were the best team for the whole second half.

"They make a change because they feel 1-0 is in danger and we concede a second goal. If 1-1 a different story, their team is in trouble."

Nonsense. City is setting a standard that might already be unachievable for the chasing pack. If this is how it deals with Chelsea, its title rival at the start of the season, then what might be in store for Watford next week? This is a superb team playing exquisite football and all the pieces slotted together in a profound, statement-making display against last season's Premier League champion.

Segio Aguero was afforded three or four clear chances to get his eye in before finally rolling the ball past Asmir Begovic for the opening goal. The ease with which he palmed off Cahill all afternoon will only expedite Mourinho's quest to bring in John Stones from Everton.

David Silva, the type of player Mourinho teams usually excel in snuffing out, found as much space as he needed. The gap between defense and midfield was all too big for Chelsea and the Spaniard profited; offering passes to Aguero and an assist to Kompany.

Raheem Sterling had Branislav Ivanovic exactly where he wanted him; while he lost out on the physical side to the Serb, his nippiness in attack meant he could go past the full back at will. Fernandinho dominated the midfield landscape and fired home the third

 Jose Mourinho can scarcely offer an excuse for this one, as he did last week in shifting the focus onto Jon Fearn and Eva Carneiro when his team conceded two to draw at Stamford Bridge against Swansea. The defeat here completes Jose's worst-ever start to a season as Chelsea manager.

Other than the 2006-07 campaign, when it lost to Middlesbrough on matchday two, Chelsea under the Portuguese had won its first two games of every Premier League season. Not so this time around.

Something is fundamentally broken. Chelsea is already five points behind City. Mourinho revealed that after a truncated preseason campaign that his side might not be fully fit until after the fourth league game. By then it will be far, far too late.