There was a delicious sense of irony about the attempt of Chelsea’s travelling supporters to goad their Manchester City counterparts on Saturday afternoon.
Already lagging 10 points behind City in the Premier League standings before kick-off, some of the Chelsea fans who journeyed up from London decided that their best chance of a laugh – on what turned out to be a thoroughly disappointing afternoon for them – was to do what football fans do best: take the mickey.
They brought with them inflatable Champions League trophies, a dig at the team they beat in the final back in May.
However, on a day where their team’s title challenge deflated, the cheap jibe only served to remind City fans of the remarkable transformation of one of their best – but widely disliked by outsiders – talents.
Raheem Sterling enjoyed a terrific afternoon out on the right wing, the latest in an improbable string of impressive performances.
The England star endured a largely forgettable 2021 in sky blue having lost his place in Pep Guardiola’s preferred XI at the start of the year and failing to regain it when he returned for the new season.
In November it even looked like Sterling’s time in Manchester was coming to an end, he himself saying he would like to play abroad one day after a flurry of reports linking him with a move to Barcelona.
Yet since a 3-0 win against Everton at the end of that month, a game in which Sterling scored a stunning half-volley to open the scoring, the 27-year-old has pulled off a stunning turnaround.
Whereas before he looked lethargic and predictable, he is now innovative and electric, something that Chelsea’s Marcos Alonso found out the hard way after just seven minutes on Saturday.
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During this period of rejuvenation, Sterling has played on both wings, performing so well that it’s hard to decide which he is best deployed on. His performance as a ‘natural-sided’ winger against Chelsea was reminiscent of his City golden years of 2017-2019, when he played on the right and Leroy Sane occupied the left.
City relied on pace in transitions back then, something they did more of on Saturday than at any other point this season.
Yet when Sterling is on his game, there are few better left wingers around. As a right-footer on the left he is less direct than Phil Foden, but the confusion he causes defenders by alternating between cutting inside and darting to the byline is a valuable weapon.
The punishment Sterling inflicted on Alonso and Malang Sarr stood in stark contrast to the night Chelsea fans were so keen to remind us of.
Guardiola brought Sterling in from the cold for the Champions League final in Porto, a surprise given that City’s number seven hadn’t started a game in the competition since the round-of-16 first-leg defeat of Borussia Monchengladbach.
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Sterling was ineffective and predictable as City fell to an underwhelming 0-1 loss, a display that summed up the decline of his performances and his relationship with Guardiola.
Eight months on and Sterling’s City career is in a very different place. Had the Englishman been in his current form last May then the result could have been very different, but that’s just football.
Chelsea’s gimmicky balloons were intended to goad City, but instead, they reminded us of the rejuvenation of an incredible player. As the inflatable trophies lay deflated on the away end floor at full-time, City’s title bid continues to rise to new heights.
What have you made of Raheem Sterling’s return to form? Follow our City Is Ours writer Alex Brotherton on Twitter to get involved in the discussion and give us your thoughts in the comments section below.
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