Just what the doctor ordered for Manchester City

For all those appalled by Jose Mourinho’s treatment of Eva Carneiro - and that must be everybody except the most fervent and blinkered admirer of the Chelsea manager - this was just what the doctor ordered.

At the end of a week when Mourinho’s cherished public image took a battering, his tactics were also exposed as his team lost 3-0 at Manchester City where only their reserve goalkeeper Asmir Begovic prevented an even more humiliating defeat.

Carneiro, the doctor relieved of first team duties for doing her job correctly last week, was not at the Emirates Stadium, while Jon Fearn, the physiotherapist similar chastised by Mourinho, was missing from the sidelines after bandaging players in the dressing room before the game. True karma, then, would have seen City score when injuries to Gary Cahill and Diego Costa briefly reduced Chelsea to nine men, the scenario that so infuriated Mourinho in their Stamford Bridge draw with Swansea City. Not that 11 Chelsea players were able to deal with this vibrant City side, particularly forward Sergio Aguero, who finally gave them a 32nd-minute lead after forcing Begovic to make no fewer than six saves that ranged from the routine in the ninth minute to the sublime in the 17th.