Manchester City 1 Chelsea 3:Chelsea re-joined Liverpool at the top of the Premier League table this evening and brought the City fans, and possibly Robinho, back down to earth in the process, despite the record singing from Brazil taking just 13 minutes to open his account for his new employers.
It wasn't all good for the original moneymen of the league, however, after John Terry was harshly red-carded for a cynical tackle on City's other big money acquisition Jo.
The 78th minute dismissal made life a little uncomfortable for Chelsea but the damage had been done thanks to goals from Ricardo Carvalho, Frank Lampard and Nicolas Anelka.
The game opened at a frantic pace with City, in particular, stroking the ball around confidently, but as game wore on it was clear that a lot more spending is required from City's new Abu Dhabi-based owners if they are to compete with teams like the one assembled by billionaire Roman Abramovich.
It was a stark reality check too for Robinho who snubbed Chelsea in favour of a €40million move to the blue side of Manchester at the eleventh hour of transfer deadline day. The former Real Madrid man delighted fans with his bag of tricks early on and gave City the lead with deflected free-kick but became increasingly peripheral after Chelsea took control of the game.
A foul on Jo by Carvalho led to the free-kick in front of goal and Robinho's shot clipped of the head of John Obi Mikel, leaving Petr Cech rooted and furious with the defensive organisation.
The celebrations were cut short, however, when just three minutes later Lampard's corner dropped to Carvalho and the defender smashed roofed the equaliser with the efficiency of a seasoned striker.
Chelsae could have held the lead at the break had Florent Malouda kept his header down but he saw it come off the crossbar and back into the arms of a grateful Joe Hart.
City started the second-half in enthusiastic fashion, although Dietmar Hamann's through-ball intended for Robinho was just too long for the Brazilian and rolled to Cech instead.
The ever willing Joe Cole and classy Deco, as well as Lampard, soon began to take control of the game and the latter's left footed shot after a trademark burst into the box gave Chelsea the lead after 53 minutes.
Chelsea never looked back and got their third when Cole's pass found Anelka who slotted home before being replaced by Didier Drogba.
Terry's dismissal soured the win for the Londoners but it was a job well done against a club that nicked their top transfer target and has been so vocal about its plans to emulate their success.
