On a night when we won the game and became the first team to stop City scoring at their home ground for more than three years, Matic was superb and came out on top in his individual battle with Yaya Toure. He also gave Chelsea supporters a first glimpse of his long-range shooting ability when he crashed a left-footed strike against the post.

Matic was ineligible to play for us in the Champions League that season, as we reached the semi-finals, but he started every Premier League game for the remainder of the season, including a 4-0 win over Tottenham, a 6-0 thumping of Arsenal and a 2-0 triumph at Anfield, which severely dented the home side’s title aspirations.

With Cesc Fabregas brought in ahead of the following campaign, the pair formed an effective partnership as the two deeper-lying midfielders in a 4-2-3-1 formation. Matic scored his first goal for Chelsea in an early-season 6-3 win at Everton and followed it up with the winner in a Champions League game against Sporting Lisbon.

He played in every league match until the start of December when he was suspended for our trip to Newcastle, an afternoon on which we suffered our first defeat of the campaign.

A sending-off against Burnley, when he was harshly punished for reacting to a terrible tackle, ruled Matic out of our League Cup final win over Tottenham, but his emotional pre-match team-talk helped inspire the side to glory, and he quickly returned for some important victories.

Matic’s role in protecting the back four was vital as the team produced a brilliant defensive display in a goalless draw at Arsenal which edged us closer to the title. After the trophy was eventually secured, courtesy of a win over Crystal Palace, he was one of six Chelsea players named in the 2014/15 PFA Team of the Season.