For all the talk of Saturday's Manchester City-Chelsea fixture being a statement game, what makes this fixture so mouthwatering is that the old nouveau riche team that can't stop scoring goals this season has a score left over from last season to settle with its upstart nouveau riche opponent.
Anytime a team with English Premier League title aspirations plays the reigning champion, it's a benchmark game. But Manchester City already knows it can beat Chelsea. While the swells of West London swept the other members of the so-called Big Four on their way to the EPL title last season, they couldn't beat the Berties. In the corresponding game at the Eastlands in December, City beat Chelsea 2-1 and secured the season double with a 4-2 win at Stamford Bridge in February.
Champions don't forget such things.
Unlike City, this Chelsea team knows it can win the EPL title. And few champions have begun the defense of their crown in such fine form. One of the themes of the buildup to this game is that Chelsea hasn't played anyone of note in the opening month or so of the season and that the Blues' EPL campaign really kicks off this week.
Sure, City will show a lot more backbone than the West Brom defensive wall did opening day at the Bridge (or the Wigan defense did against City last week, for that matter), but the magnificent manner in which Chelsea has put its inferior opposition to the sword shouldn't be dismissed.
Under Carlo Ancelotti, Chelsea is playing "La Dolce Vita" football. Yet the former AC Milan boss hasn't received as much credit as he deserves for the transformation he has engineered at the Bridge. Although his initial diamond formation midfield was productive last season, Ancelotti made the bold move of switching to a 4-3-3 system in midstream and gave his forwards the creative license to roam at will. That move paid off with goals galore, and the gusher is still flowing. Chelsea scored 103 goals on its way to the EPL title last season, 17 more than second-place Manchester United. In five EPL games this season, Chelsea has scored a remarkable 21 goals.
That strike rate is not just a function of the opposition, but of a skillful, athletic team playing at high pace and with power and confidence to spare. And as one would expect from a team coached by an Italian maestro, Chelsea plays highly disciplined defense.
Roberto Mancini, of course, was not on the City bench for the home victory over Chelsea last season, his appointment coming just a couple of weeks later. The suave Italian knows the high expectations of his English job and, like his compatriot at Chelsea, embraces the challenge. But do the City players?
The Chelsea visit will provide some answers. Despite the extensive player turnover this summer in the blue half of Manchester, Mancini will be able to rely on such double-over-Chelsea stalwarts as Carlos Tevez (who scored three goals in those two games), Gareth Barry, Kolo Toure, Vincent Kompany and Joleon Lescott to carry the confidence from those victories into the game this week. Ancelotti likely will be without Salomon Kalou and Yossi Benayoun, both injured in the team's Carling Cup loss to Newcastle this week. Of more concern for the manager is that, with Wayne Bridge injured and Micah Richards hobbled, Mancini might have a hole to fill at left back. But that's the type of hurdle a team must overcome to win championships.
As City discovered last season, beating Chelsea doesn't guarantee a title. But a third straight EPL victory over the champions on Saturday would provide the home side with three valuable points and a much-needed snow globe effect for this season's so-far somnolent EPL.
A reversal of fortune for Chelsea against its new nemesis could see the beginning of a very special season for a potentially very special team. Perhaps, one that comes around only once in a Blue Moon.