Manchester City regained their place at the top of the Premier League table courtesy of a 1-0 win over Chelsea at Stamford Bridge this afternoon.
In a battle between the champions and the league leaders heading into the weekend, it was the latter who convincingly came out on top with a dominant performance in West London.
Kevin De Bruyne scored the only goal of the game against his former club to ensure that City did come away with all three points from a match which was more one-sided than the final scoreline suggests.
Find out how all of the action unfolded courtesy of Sports Mole's minute-by-minute coverage below.
Chelsea and Manchester City have both been in brilliant form of late, particularly the visitors with their free-scoring ways, and this promises to be a huge showdown between two of the favourites for the title this season. Both clubs began the day in the top three, but have a chance to dent the title hopes of their opponents this afternoon.
Before we get into all that, though, let's first have a look at the team news for this mouth-watering contest...
Well, there are plenty of talking points from Antonio Conte's selection, the biggest of which is the inclusion of Eden Hazard. The Belgian is handed his first Premier League start of the season today after missing the opening month or so as he continued his recovery from a broken ankle. Hazard was included in the side against Atletico in midweek, and following his dazzling display in Madrid he keeps his place tonight.
Hazard has a good record against City too, being directly involved in five goals from his last five Premier League appearances against the club - including scoring three times in two meetings last season.
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It looks as though Azpilicueta, who helped himself to two assists against Stoke last weekend, will play in the right wing-back role today having spent most of his time at centre-back since the switch to 3-4-3.
Further forward Kante continues in the middle of the park, where he will surely be joined by Bakayoko with Fabregas the more likely to be given a more attacking role. Willian and Pedro, meanwhile, have to settle for a place on the bench.
Another hat-trick today would see him equal Diego Costa's tally of nine goals in his first seven Premier League outings.
Sergio Aguero was involved in a car accident during a day off in Amsterdam earlier this week and is expected to spend a few weeks on the sidelines as a result, halting his fine early-season form which had seen him score six goals in as many Premier League games. Gabriel Jesus comes into the side in his place having been left out for last weekend's win over Crystal Palace.
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Sterling scored twice more at Crystal Palace to continue his good form in front of goal this season, while Sane has been a threat as both a goalscorer and a creator this term too. It speaks volumes for the depth at Pep Guardiola's disposal that he can name such a dangerous front three despite being without arguably the league's best striker.
Kevin De Bruyne topped the Premier League assists charts last season and has directly contributed to 12 goals in his last 12 games for the club across all competitions, setting up nine and scoring three himself - including one in midweek against Shakhtar Donetsk. David Silva has usurped the Belgian as the Premier League's chief creator so far this term, though, laying on six assists for his teammates already.
Indeed, Guardiola has made just the one change to his side from that win over Shakhtar in the Champions League, with Sterling coming in for the injured Aguero.
It will not come as a surprise to Chelsea - or City, for that matter - that Manchester United have picked up a comfortable three points against Crystal Palace today, but that result still piles more pressure on both of these teams to win here.
Chelsea are in good form themselves, though, and heading into this weekend they had matched the points haul of the Manchester clubs over the past five games. The one thing which has let them down so far was that opening-day home defeat to Burnley, when they had two men sent off.
The Blues come into today's game unbeaten in their last eight matches across all competitions, winning seven of those and drawing one. The sole blemish during that run did come in their last Premier League home game, though, when they were held to a goalless draw by Arsenal.
Antonio Conte, meanwhile, has never been in charge of a team which has failed to score in two consecutive home league games, so history suggests that Chelsea will at least get on the board today.
The champions have also been tight at the other end of the park with three clean sheets from those five matches, and since the opening-day defeat at the hands of Burnley they have won three and drawn one of their four games in West London.
There has been a definite dip in their home form at the start of this season with just one win from their three league outings at the Bridge, having previously won 15 of 16 before that.
It was a display described as one of the best by an English team in Europe in recent years as Chelsea inflicted defeat on Atletico Madrid in the first Champions League outing at their new Wanda Metropolitano Stadium. The Blues came from behind in the Spanish capital and won it with the final kick of the match to pick up surely their most impressive result under Conte - and a deserved one too.
City have been simply unstoppable in recent weeks, overcoming a slow start to the campaign in which they needed a few late goals to scrape past teams. They are now blowing teams away, scoring a staggering 24 goals in their last six matches across all competitions - an average of four per game.
Ten-man Liverpool were the first to fall foul of the free-scoring ways with a 5-0 defeat at the Etihad before City went from strength to strength with a 6-0 triumph at Watford and 5-0 thrashing of Crystal Palace. Guardiola's side are the first team to score five or more goals in three consecutive top-flight matches since Blackburn Rovers in August 1958.
It is an area of the field which has been perceived as City's weak point in recent years, but Guardiola's side have kept five clean sheets in their last six matches, only conceding once in a 2-1 triumph over West Brom in the EFL Cup. Bigger tests will come in the future - starting today - but the backline does deserve credit for their recent record.
In all competitions this season City are yet to taste a single defeat from their nine matches, winning eight of those including that ongoing seven-match winning streak.
Guardiola's side have slipped down to second as things stand courtesy of United's win over Crystal Palace this afternoon, but they went into the weekend top of the table with the best attacking record of 21 goals scored and the joint-best defensive record of only two goals conceded.
City's tally of 21 goals scored has also only been bettered twice in Premier League history at this stage of a season, with Newcastle United (1994-95) and Manchester United (2011-12) both managing 22 goals in their opening six outings. Neither of those two teams went on to lift the trophy that season, though.
Stretching back to last season City have also won four Premier League away games on the bounce, and another today would see them equal their club record - set in 1912 and equalled in 2015 - of five consecutive top-flight away wins. Strangely enough, though, Pep Guardiola has never beaten Chelsea in seven previous meetings with the club as a manager - his longest run without victory against any club.
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This is such a tough one to call with both sides in such fine form. Chelsea's home advantage might usually give them the edge, but they haven't been at their best here so far this season whereas City have been brilliant on the road. City have not been really tested yet this season, though, and looked shaky against Liverpool before the Reds saw Sadio Mane sent off, so we're edging towards a Chelsea win today.
Sports Mole says: Chelsea 2-1 Manchester City
Indeed, Chelsea could become only the second club to win three consecutive matches against a team managed by Guardiola today, with Real Madrid the only other club to achieve that feat during the Spaniard's time in charge at Real Madrid.
The reverse fixture required Chelsea to come from behind after Cahill's own goal on the stroke of half time, but Costa, Willian and Hazard all scored in the final half-hour to clinch all three points.
The last 23 meetings - home or away - have been split much more evenly, though, with 10 wins apiece and three draws.
CHELSEA STARTING XI: Courtois; Rudiger, Christensen, Cahill; Azpilicueta, Kante, Bakayoko, Alonso; Fabregas, Hazard, Morata
MAN CITY STARTING XI: Ederson; Walker, Stones, Otamendi, Delph; De Bruyne, Fernandinho, Silva; Sterling, Sane, Jesus
It has been an intriguing tactical battle so far, but really clear chances have been tough to come by for both sides. Manchester City have seen by far the majority of the ball, but Chelsea have arguably had the better chances.
As already mentioned, City have dominated the game for long spells without being able to break down Chelsea too often. Perhaps the best opportunity they had to do that came just before the half-hour mark when they hit Chelsea with a quick breakaway which ended when Sterling put his cross just too far in front of Jesus and Silva.
Antonio Conte will certainly want to see more from his side in the second half, although Guardiola's City have not allowed them to get into any sort of rhythm in this match. It is still all to play for between these two title rivals.
It is De Bruyne who comes back to haunt his former club with a brilliant strike, playing a slick one-two with Jesus before lashing an unstoppable effort into the corner from outside the area. Courtois had no chance, and it is a deserved lead for the visitors.
They have come to the home of the champions - without star striker Sergio Aguero - and completely outclassed them. The final scoreline of 1-0 may make it look like a close contest, but in reality City were by far the better team today and Kevin De Bruyne's goal against his former club gave them a deserved win.
Thank you very much for joining Sports Mole for today's late kickoff as Manchester City win at Chelsea to move back to the top of the table. I will leave you with our match report, and be sure to stick around for reaction from both camps too - it will be very interesting to hear what the managers made of that game.
From me, though, it is goodbye for now!