Chelsea were relatively active in the January transfer window, selling Juan Mata to Manchester United and signing Mohamed Salah, Kurt Zouma and Nemanja Matic. And it is the latter of those purchases that could pay off the most, if last night's game was anything to go by. Matic was superb against Manchester City and achieved what very few midfielders have done this season - keep Yaya Toure out of the game. Toure is crucial to City and much of their attacking prowess comes from the big man, who forms a link between attack and defence and menaces opposition with rampaging runs. But Matic, taller than Toure but weighing considerably less, had him in his back pocket at the Etihad and marked the Ivorian out of the game. The Serb broke play up here and also threatened to score, hitting the post in the second half and looking like he could become an integral player for Chelsea this season. Stopping Toure is an effective way to stop City and Chelsea owe a lot to Matic for this victory.
Joseph is an accredited football journalist and has interviewed nearly all of the current 20 Barclay's Premier League managers. He is also a correspondent for Bleacher Report and has written for Caught Offside and Give Me Football.
