As Antonio Conte was talking about how his team can now start counting down the wins they need to claim the title, Pep Guardiola was counting up the matches that have left his side so far away from the champions elect.

“The game at the Etihad [Chelsea’s 3-1 win in December] was a key point in our season in the Premier League. We arrived there four points behind, played much better, didn't have two penalties, created chances which we didn't take, then the red cards... Then it was seven points, then 10 after Leicester City [a 4-2 defeat].”

Now it is 14 points. It really doesn’t look good, for a manager that Conte conspicuously and humbly hailed as perhaps the best in the world. Even beyond the most significant fact that Guardiola is so low in the table and so out of the title race at this point of a season for the first time in his career - let alone that he has actually been out of it since January - there was the symbolism of this result on Wednesday. It marked the first time in the Catalan’s career that he has lost two league games in the same season to the same manager, with the fact it was the manager of the likely title winners - the status that Guardiola was expected to rise to - only further emphasising what a reality check this has all been.

Premier League round-up: Chelsea take a big step towards title win

One common perspective is that it proves how so much of his success was down to the teams he had, and the way he has so struggled with an inferior squad in a league with more competitive clubs shows he isn’t that special. That is a perspective bolstered by that table, where they are a long way off. There can be no debate that he is under-performing, since he really should have been challenging for the title properly.

There can be plenty of debate over whether that is anything to be concerned about, because the perspective from the pitch is very different. There, City genuinely don’t look that far off. They often look utterly brilliant in attack, combining a kaleidoscopic collective co-ordination with intricate individual instinct. It was much the same for many moments of this match, meaning this match was much the same as so many others this season. It actually feels like we’ve already seen this City game about 10 times this season, and that if little moments had gone a different way, it could have made a sizeable difference to their season. It could have, as Guardiola argued, seen them properly challenge.

But how can you really square that with the reality that they are so far away from Chelsea on points? As with Manchester United, if these misses and little moments have such a disproportionate effect, it probably means the problem is greater than such quirks of fate. It really doesn’t just come down to the finishing.

Chelsea vs Manchester City player ratings Show all 23 1 /23 Chelsea vs Manchester City player ratings Chelsea vs Manchester City player ratings Thibaut Courtois - 4 Horrendous mistake for the first goal, completely mistiming his punch. Was solid in every other part of his game but matches of this magnitude are often won and lost on the small details. Chelsea vs Manchester City player ratings Branislav Ivanovic - 6 Terrible first half performance that included three terrible errors that, fortunately for Chelsea, went unpunished. Made up for that with a brilliant pass to find Hazard for the goal and was much better after half-time. Chelsea vs Manchester City player ratings John Terry - 7 Made one bad error when he got underneath a long ball to allow Aguero through on goal but again proved he is the best English defender out there. Chelsea vs Manchester City player ratings Kurt Zouma - 8 Still has huge room for improvement but the 20-year-old has all the tools to become one of the very best in the world. Deserves to be keeping England's first-choice centre-back on the sidelines. Chelsea vs Manchester City player ratings Cesar Azpilicueta - 5 Jesus Navas had the better of his compatriot all evening. Azpilicueta was beaten in a way Chelsea fans have not often seen. Chelsea vs Manchester City player ratings Nemanja Matic - 8 Stepped up his game in the absence of Fabregas to put in a complete midfield performance. Truly great on and off the ball, the giant Serbian was the best player on the park. Chelsea vs Manchester City player ratings Ramires - 7 Held his position well as the holding midfielder and only made the occasional burst forward, Ramires was very good but its hard to argue that the Blues missed the wizardry of Cesc Fabregas. Chelsea vs Manchester City player ratings Willian - 5 Hassled and harried his way through the 90 minutes, Willian was excellent in the defensive and middle thirds of the field but produced little to nothing in areas where he could do damage. Set-pieces delivery was also poor. Chelsea vs Manchester City player ratings Oscar - 6 Another who failed to produce in the final third, Oscar played deeper than he has done for the most part this season which blunted his effectiveness Chelsea vs Manchester City player ratings Eden Hazard - 6 Brilliant in the first 45, causing all sorts of problems for Bacary Sagna but was extremely quiet after the break as City closed off the space around the dangerous Belgian. Chelsea vs Manchester City player ratings Loic Remy - 7 Was brilliant in the lone striker role, holding the ball up well to bring his team-mates into the game. Great movement to find space for the goal, it was a shame for Chelsea that the trio behind him starved the striker of service. Chelsea vs Manchester City player ratings Joe Hart - 6 Nothing he could do about the goal and was hardly tested otherwise by the home side. Looked reasonably solid throughout, bar one dodgy kick. Chelsea vs Manchester City player ratings Bacary Sagna - 6 Struggled in the first half against Hazard but grew into it as it went on, to snuff out the Hazard threat. Combined excellently with Jesus Navas. Lost Hazard for the goal. Chelsea vs Manchester City player ratings Vincent Kompany - 7 Defender manfully, though he wasn't always the most comfrotable in possession. In truth, Chelsea didn't offer much threat. Chelsea vs Manchester City player ratings Martin Demichelis - 7 Had an excellent match but went to sleep to allow Loic Remy to steal into yards of space for the goal. Chelsea vs Manchester City player ratings Gael Clichy - 8 Didn't put a foot wrong on the left and never gave Willian the chance to do anything of note in the final third. Offered a good outlet going forward as well. Chelsea vs Manchester City player ratings Fernandinho - 7 Was one of the best City performers with a display full of energy and purpose. Pushed the visitors forward, passed well and was not averse to stopping Chelsea by any means necessary. Chelsea vs Manchester City player ratings Fernando - 7 Gave Matic as good as he got in midfield and provided the City defence with superb cover throughout the game. Chelsea vs Manchester City player ratings Jesus Navas - 7 Gave Cesar Azpilicueta the hardest game he's played all season but for all the occasions he beat his opposite number he failed to deliver that telling ball. Chelsea vs Manchester City player ratings James Milner - 7 Barely troubled Ivanovic as an attacking force but you can't downplay his importance to the City cause as a worker and defender. Getty Chelsea vs Manchester City player ratings David Silva - 7 Was not able to offer his usual craft when in possession as he was well marshalled by Matic and Ramires, but got an absolutely vital touch to turn Aguero's shot past Ivanovic. Chelsea vs Manchester City player ratings Sergio Aguero - 5 Five games since returning from injury and the usually lethal striker is misfiring. Latched on to a Terry mistake to race through on goal for a chance that a pre-injury Aguero would have tucked away - he fired wide. Chelsea vs Manchester City player ratings Frank Lampard - 5 The stage looked set for another Lampard goal against his former club but it was not to be. Given a great ovation at the end from his former supporters. Getty Images

The issue with City still feels like Guardiola hasn’t fully squared his idea for the team. They play with the attacking pace he would want, but don’t have the midfield base to really make it work. There is no central midfielder to give them that “control” Guardiola has so favoured in the past, meaning a manager whose teams are usually metronomic are instead involved in games that spin so fast it feels anything can happen. What usually happens is that City create a lot of chances but also concede a lot, meaning they can’t quite intimidate opposition in the way they probably should given what they can do attack.

That means he has to do the most obvious thing of all in management: buy. That also opens up a whole lot of debate over whether City were well equipped enough to do what he wanted, or whether a manager with Guardiola’s reputation should really have been able to do more anyway.

Premier League round-up: Chelsea take a big step towards title win

It’s again a bit of both.