Just three days on from the two teams' Premier League meeting, Manchester City enjoyed a significantly more comfortable win over Chelsea, in this Emirates F.A. Cup clash.
Back home, at the Etihad Stadium, a trio of first half goals ensured that Man City would go on to book their place in the fourth round of the competition, setting up a potential meeting with Arsenal.
A brilliant Riyad Mahrez free-kick opened the scoring after 24 minutes. Shortly after, goals from Julian Alvarez and Phil Foden sent the hosts into the break 3-0 up, without conceding a single shot at their own goal.
Mahrez's converted penalty towards the end of the game rounded off a quiet second half, with both teams understanding the fate of the tie was sealed, after Man City's rampant first 45 minutes.
Story of the match
From the two teams' previous meeting on Thursday evening, both managers elected to field strongly rotated starting elevens.
Bashir Humphreys, starting at centre-back, made his first senior Chelsea appearance. He was one of six new faces in Graham Potter’s team. Trevoh Chalobah, Lewis Hall, Jorginho, Conor Gallagher and Mason Mount also came into his 11.
Pep Guardiola elected to go one change further. Only Kyle Walker, Rodri, Bernardo Silva and Foden kept their places, amongst seven changes, from City’s 1-0 win against the same opposition. Most notably, both Kevin de Bruyne and Erling Haaland were among the hosts’ substitutes.
Even given the relative inexperience of the Chelsea backline, the visitors kept the ball fairly well within their own half during the opening minutes of the contest.
Not before long, Man City were able to restore their usual control over much of the possession. Their first half-chance came after 13 minutes.
After a bit of chaos within the Chelsea box, caused by Gomez’s cross, an over-head kick from Foden floated over Kepa and narrowly wide of the far post. A potential goal would have been disallowed, due to a foul spotted by Robert Jones.
Minutes later, Cole Palmer found himself through on goal, after a precise over-the-top through ball from the middle of the pitch. Unfortunately for the City midfielder, he failed to spot an open Alvarez centrally and had his effort smothered and redirected for a corner by the oncoming Kepa Arrizabalaga.
A rare break from Chelsea saw Humphreys’ long ball run through to Stefan Ortega. More interestingly, Gomez’s clip of Hakim Ziyech’s heels – causing the winger to stumble to the ground – was adjudged to not be worthy of a VAR intervention, as the Moroccan attempted to chase down the pass.
Mahrez ensured that the fairly tepid affair burst into life, in the 24th minute.
His free-kick, around 25 yards from goal, ended up in the top corner of Chelsea’s net. A slight deflection from the wall partially took the gloss off the brilliance of the strike, not that that would frustrate Mahrez and his team a great deal.
Subsequently, it did not take long for the hosts’ freshly-acquired lead to be doubled.
A Havertz handball, from a Man City corner, was spotted and punished following an on-field VAR review. Alvarez took the resulting spot-kick, placing it perfectly in the bottom-left corner. Kepa, after getting a hand on the ball, was unable to keep the well-struck effort out.
A confident Man City side continued to put the hosts under pressure. A half-chance for Alvarez and another Mahrez free-kick – punched away by Kepa – underlined the difficulties which Chelsea were facing, following the double blow.
Unsurprisingly, a fantastically worked third goal for the hosts came soon after.
The build-up involved brilliant link-up play from Gomez and Rodri and an eventual low cross from Walker on the right side. Foden made use of the full-back’s inviting delivery, with a simple, first-time finish to redirect the ball on target.
Just prior to the break, Man City worked their way into the Chelsea box, again. A low cross from Mahrez into the middle was inches away from meeting the outstretching Foden.
A poor pass from Jorginho gifted the hosts a corner, moments later – fittingly, the last moment of note, before half-time.
Denis Zakaria and David Fofana - making his debut for the club - were introduced for the start of the second half, looking to, at the very least, help provide the visitors with their first attempt at goal.
Just under ten minutes into the second half, Chelsea managed just that. A quickly taken free-kick set Mount off, in behind the Man City backline. His effort was faintly redirected by a touch from the retreating Manuel Akanji and, then, Ortega, for a corner.
For much of the second half, the hosts seemed content enough with their three-goal lead. Without causing too much further danger to the Chelsea goal, Man City were able to stroll through most of the second period, comfortably controlling most of the possession.
Their first sight of goal, following the restart, came after the 70-minute mark. Mahrez, following his trademark movement inside from the right wing, unleashed a whipped effort, which was set out just a few inches too far wide of the far post.
A couple of efforts from Omari Hutchinson and Zakaria caused little concern for the hosts, as a very forgettable second half began to approach its conclusion.
There was still time for a clumsy challenge by Kalidou Koulibaly on Foden - gifting Man City the opportunity to further extend their comfortable lead.
Mahrez, who missed three of his last four penalties, set about putting that record right. His spot-kick sent Kepa the wrong way, with the ball fizzing into the roof of the net.
Player of the match - Riyad Mahrez
A brilliant free-kick set his team on the way to enjoy a comfortable evening, in what initially seemed to be a very tricky third round draw.
Mahrez retained the ball fairly well throughout the 90 minutes, completing a few crosses, in addition to his two goals.
The Algerian has come back from the World Cup break in top form and he will hope to maintain this level, for the rest of the season.