Abramovich gets fantasy football at last

The Manchester City manager suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of the club who sought to hire him before Jose Mourinho as his side's impressive start to the season, which has taken them into the top three, came to a shuddering halt.

So poor were City, so porous their defence, that there was even a late goal for substitute Andriy Shevchenko as part of a rampant Chelsea performance of the sort that owner Roman Abramovich — seen smiling up in his eyrie and later crossing the pitch to show his approval in the dressing room — has been craving.

It has been coming — both a productive Chelsea performance and a heavy City defeat. The London club have so many attacking players of quality — as shown by Didier Drogba scoring twice,Michael Essien, Joe Cole, Salomon Kalou and Shevchenko once each — that it was inevitable.

And City remain a work in progress,a mixture of some quality players such as Elano and Martin Petrov but also some distinctly ordinary. Eriksson, who allowed himself to be outflanked both in selection and formation yesterday, will need to invest in the January transfer window if their good start to the season, which saw them arrive on the back of three consecutive wins, is not to be wasted.

"For five of the six goals the goalkeeper was left alone and that is not good enough for the Premier League," said Eriksson. "If you give Lampard and Cole all that space they will kill you and today they killed us."

And he should know, having picked them often enough for England.

"We failed completely to defend, not just the back four and goalkeeper.You have to defend with 11. For sure it's a wake-up call for all of us."

The first time this season City came to London they appeared somewhat overawed against Arsenal. This time they at least emerged with more ambition and almost snatched an early lead.

The buzzing Brazilian Elano clipped in a ball from the left that brushed the chest of Stephen Ireland and was heading for the Chelsea net until Petr Cech stretched to tip the ball wide. It was to be a false dawn and soon the Chelsea account was opened.

A splendid move it was, too. Cole played the ball infield to John Obi Mikel who quickly found Frank Lampard for a threaded pass into the path of Essien. As Micah Richards backed away, Essien drove home crisply.

Now Chelsea assumed a comfortable control. Dietmar Hamann and Michael Johnson were overwhelmed in central midfield, with Lampard, Essien and Mikel swarming all over and around them as new manager Avram Grant went to the old Mourinho formation that has Drogba leading the line with two other attacking players wide.

Proceedings were interrupted by a spat between England colleagues Richards and Lampard when the teenage defender fouled the midfielder and then took exception to his reaction on the floor in holding his foot. Both, with Lampard flabbergasted, received yellow cards.

He soon had his revenge. From the halfway line, Lampard picked out the run of Drogba and played a perfect ball inside Richards and into the Ivorean's path. The finish was a sharp low shot dispatched past the hapless Joe Hart.

City needed to get back in the game and quickly. The chance came after Javier Garrido ran at the Chelsea defence and the ball came to Ireland.

On the edge of the area, he took careful aim but side-footed his shot wide of Cech's right post.

It proved expensive. Early in the second half Kalou slipped a ball through another gaping hole to Lampard, and after Hart had saved his shot, Drogba pounced on the rebound and lashed home his sixth goal of the season. Within five minutes, there was a fourth. Drogba was first to Alex's clearance and flicked the ball between Richards and Garrido where Cole stole in to score. The fifth came when Essien again saw Garrido isolated and found Kalou, who cut inside before shooting home through Hart's legs.

Shevchenko's sixth was almost a copy. "It is not easy for a great player to be on the bench," said Grant. "But it was a fantastic goal from a fantastic move."

"Boring, boring Chelsea," sang the Bridge. With Drogba replaced by another lanky striker, it was even suggested Chelsea were taking the Pizarro.