I noticed subtle Jack Grealish change vs Chelsea – and it is good news for Man City

Manchester City thrashed Chelsea in their final game of their United States trip to head back to the Etihad with some momentum ahead of their Premier League opener.

Pep Guardiola will be able to call upon a host of senior stars when they begin their title defence at Stamford Bridge in two weeks, but even with a youthful squad they had far too much for Chelsea. Erling Haaland was the main beneficiary from some sloppy play from their opponents, scoring a hat-trick in a 4-2 win a few days after he was forced off the pitch with injury concerns.

They are next in action against United in the Community Shield next weekend. Here are some of the moments you might have missed from the Chelsea win.

Grealish gives Enzo feisty welcome

City do not have too many senior players on tour and were playing a Chelsea team boasting far greater experience. It helped Guardiola that he could include Jack Grealish and Erling Haaland among his stars though, and not only did they combine for the opening goal but Grealish made sure his presence was felt.

Chelsea midfielder Enzo Fernandez – fresh from being reintegrated to their squad despite his offensive singing after the Copa America – was keen to rough City up but Grealish was there to give as good as he was getting. The former Villa man is more used than most to getting some- nasty treatment but did what he could to keep Fernandez in check. City will welcome Grealish stepping up to take responsibility for the team this season whenever he is able to.

City creating plenty

You can usually judge how well City are playing at any point in the season by how many chances they are creating. If they’re missing lots it isn’t great, but it is worse if they aren’t creating things to miss.

It could not be missed that City scored four against Chelsea, but it may have gone unnoticed that the tour has been full of goals for the Blues – 11 in four games. They have let 11 in so haven’t been watertight at the back but given they have so many absences in defence there should be more focus on the positive.

Steady progress in US

City have made more strides in the US this summer but it also feels like they and the other Premier League clubs over there haven’t quite captured the imagination in the way that Lionel Messi has with Inter Miami. There hasn’t quite been the same level of excitement that was on show in Japan and Korea last year.

As soon as the schedule was announced, it felt like it was going to be a tough ask for City and Chelsea to sell out an Ohio Stadium boasting 102,000 seats and so it proved; over 70,000 was a decent number but well short of capacity. City could boast the majority of those inside the stadium, yet it shows there is still room to grow.