It is tempting to wonder what might have been if, at the start of the second half at the Etihad on Saturday, the only shot on target that Chelsea managed all afternoon had been placed around the onrushing Ederson rather than easily within his reach. Maybe Thomas Tuchel would have taken more positives from the performance, maybe Manchester City would even have lost, maybe there would still have been a sliver of intrigue for us to savour in the final four months of this Premier League title race.
Maybe Romelu Lukaku would have taken the first step on his long road back to something approaching redemption, too. The narrative almost demanded that, very much against the run of play, he should convert that golden one-on-one opportunity to put his side ahead - not only to repair some of the damage done by last month’s explosive interview to Sky Sports Italia, but also to damage a club that he revealed he had almost joined, who offered him much more money than Chelsea did, by the way.
