It was a pitiful Chelsea on display this evening at the Ethihad Stadium, embarrassingly losing by three unreplied goals in their top-of-the-bill English Premiership clash with former Manchester City.

The dominant former champions took the game to the reigning champions from the blast of the whistle, stamping their authority on the game. Predatory Sergio Aguero unlocked the goal gates on 31 minutes, after being found in the box by David Silva and firing a low shot past goalie Asmir Begovic into the far corner of the goal.

Chelsea failed to up their game in the second half and it did got punished again in the 79th minute. This time it was defender Vincent Kompany who did the damage with a glancing header into the far corner after meeting a David Silva corner in the vital area.

Five minutes later it was all over for Chelsea when midfielder Fernandinho cracked in from the edge of the box.

Mouthy Jose Mourinho looked folorn and bereft of ideas on an evening when his shocking defending and uninspiring attack condemned the champions to a heavy loss in week two of the 2015/2016 season, leaving them with a mere point in their campaign to retain the title.

For City, it was their second straight win and a tight grip on top of the table.

Meanwhile, at Crystal Palace, fan favourites Arsenal revived their title hopes with a 2-1 away win to make amends for last week’s home loss to West Ham.

•Photo shows Nigeria’s John Mikel Obi and other substitutes looking on helplessly from the Chelsea bench . . . this evening at the Ethihad.