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Chelsea must be sick of seeing Manchester City and their polished entertainer Riyad Mahrez.
The reigning English champions eliminated Graham Potter's side from the League Cup in November. They cruised past the Blues again in the Premier League last week. And on Sunday night, City stormed into the FA Cup fourth round with another routine victory over their familiar opponents.
The two formidable powerhouses, who have tyrannized European football with enviable deep pockets, have met three times in three different competitions this season, City triumphant and humiliating Chelsea every time. And Mahrez has scored three goals along the way.
Despite resting a clutch of established big-names, including top goalscorer Erling Haaland, playmaker Kevin De Bruyne and first-choice goalkeeper Ederson, City still toyed with Chelsea with incredible ease. It is damning for a football behemoth of Chelsea's stature and resources.
Pep Guardiola's second-string players were ominously wasteful and generous in front of goal, but Chelsea's defensive line was so porous that City managed to score three in the one-sided first half through Mahrez, Julian Alvarez and Phil Foden. Mahrez added a fourth from the penalty spot late on. It speaks volumes about Chelsea's utterly abysmal performance that they were flattered by the 4-0 scoreline.
According to stats provider Opta, Chelsea's expected goals on Sunday was their lowest in a game in the past five seasons in all competitions.
With zero shots from Chelsea, this is also the eighth time in the past five campaigns that Chelsea have been held to one or fewer shots in the first half of a match. Five of those matches have been against none other than City.
Little wonder that Potter's team were roundly booed at full time. It was Chelsea's heaviest defeat under the helpless manager, who was appointed at Stamford Bridge only in September. It was also Chelsea's first third-round exit in 25 years.
For all his brilliant records at Brighton, Potter's lack of experience in big clubs always threatened to derail the 47-year-old if results went awry at Stamford Bridge, and alas, that is gradually proving to be the case.
Though Potter is wrestling with a deepening injury crisis, there was no excuse for this horrible run as his side have won just three of their last 12 games in all competitions and sit 10th in the Premier League. He has enough quality stars at his disposal to do much better.
"We were second best to a very, very good side," a crestfallen Potter admitted afterwards. "We are not in a great moment and even though it was a cagey first 20 minutes we couldn't attack as well as we would like. City are very good at stopping you doing that but at the same time we struggled.
"In terms of the Premier League we have lost four matches – to Newcastle away, when we had nine players unavailable, we lost 1-0 to Arsenal, we lost on a bad day to Brighton and we lost to City. You can make excuses and look for reasons or say it isn't good enough. Both of those answers are correct.
"We have to keep improving and stick together because clearly we are suffering as a football club and it's not nice at all. But that's where we are at the moment."
Potter was hardly comforted by the chants of disgruntled Chelsea fans passionately singing the name of his predecessor Thomas Tuchel and the club's former Russian owner Roman Abramovich, who was forced out by the authorities in acrimonious manner.
"You understand the supporters' frustration, we respect that," Potter told a press briefing. "There are always other opinions and negativity and criticism because the results haven't been positive. That's part of the job and part of the challenge."
Without fighting spirit, belief and proper organization, Chelsea have now been knocked out of both FA Cup and League Cup, which means the falling giants' only hope of silverware this season is in the fiercely competitive Champions League. They face German titan Borussia Dortmund in the last-16.
Relying on Abramovich's unlimited investment in the transfer market, the Blues supporters have grown accustomed to success in recent decades, but on this evidence, they do not merit a mention in the title race and will ultimately once again deservedly end the season without a trophy.
（CGTN）
