Conte and Chelsea beat Guardiola and Manchester City 3-1 in battle of managers

There is no quantifying, exactly, how large the value of a good manager in soccer really is. It isn’t like baseball, where it can be reduced to an exact number, to a swing of wins and games whose outcome is influenced by the man in charge. Take a look at Chelsea and Manchester City this season, however, and the impact of an elite manager is obvious.

Because when they faced each other at the Etihad on Saturday morning, a 3-1 win stolen by an outplayed but efficient Chelsea, the evolution of both clubs was never more apparent.

You’ll recall that last year Chelsea delivered the worst title defense in Premier League history in the first spell of the season, before Jose Mourinho was fired for the first time in his career. A team almost unchanged from the one that had won the 2014-15 Premier League at a canter – that had been reinforced, in fact – was utterly unrecognizable and insipid, as none of the key players looked happy or like their usual selves.

This year, the Blues aren’t just league leaders and strong title contenders, but they’re also probably the favorites after Saturday’s result, dealing a direct blow to some big rivals. And the difference has not been the return of David Luiz or the recruitment of N’Golo Kante, Marcos Alonso or Michy Batshuayi, although all of those were nice pickups and have become important pieces – the latter perhaps excepted. Kante, in particular, has proved an upgrade.

The difference has been Antonio Conte, the intense Italian tactician, who has rejuvenated the existing core and devised a 3-4-3-ish system – maybe it’s a 3-6-1? – that has yielded eight straight league wins, including victories over defending champions Leicester City, Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur and now City.

At the other end of the field, Man City are likewise a new team, in spite of still largely being the old team. Ilkay Gundogan, Nolito, Leroy Sane, John Stones and Claudio Bravo are key acquisitions. But Kevin De Bruyne and Raheem Sterling being used to full effect, David Silva finding fresh energy and Sergio Aguero, well, still being himself, has been at least as important. And so has new manager Pep Guardiola’s swashbuckling playing style, which simply gets more out of the players than Manuel Pellegrini was getting.

It didn’t happen that Guardiola’s appointment was announced midway through last season, lame-ducking Pellegrini with the league title still to play for. That made the campaign feel more like an interlude than a legitimate opportunity to lift the Premier League trophy a third time in five years.

Facing off at last, these managers predictably produced a game was harried, frantic and played in tiny spaces right from the start. But if City was the better and more dangerous team, only a Gary Cahill own goal could get the Citizens on the scoreboard on the brink of halftime. Chelsea’s sharp counterattacks won it in the second half, when Diego Costa, Willian and Eden Hazard pounced on the only three real chances and shots on goal their team would get.

Hazard, the biggest beneficiary from the managerial change in London, found himself in a few promising positions early on. But soon enough, it was almost all City.

De Bruyne served up a pin-point free kick in the 25th minute, but Fernandinho had strayed a few feet offside before nodding it home with a diving header. On the next play, Hazard was through and beat Bravo, but his angle was too small and covered by a defender. His cutback was cleared.

Silva then hit a cross to Sane, who played it back for Aguero, but his volley was blocked well by Cesar Azpilicueta. Then, another cross from De Bruyne found Aguero as well, but his bouncing header went just wide.

Still, City would be rewarded before halftime, when Jesus Navas’s cross was redirected by the unfortunate Gary Cahill into the far upper 90 of his own goal, a bit of a freak occurrence.

Just after the break, De Bruyne had two fat chances to put the game away. A splendid Sane-led counterattack culminated in a De Bruyne shot, but it was parried well by Thibaut Courtois. Then, Navas played a low cross into De Bruyne, who somehow smashed the ball off the bar with an open goal in front of him.

With City refusing to seize the points, Chelsea wrested them away. Cesc Fabregas hit a perfect long ball to Costa, who chested it down, held off Nicolas Otamendi and finished well.

Then, after Aguero was denied by Courtois again, a lightning-fast Chelsea break produced the winner. Willian’s 50-yard sprint to get onto the end of Costa’s through ball paid off and he deposited his finish into the net. Then the Brazilian held up his armband in tribute to the Chapecoense air disaster.

Things got ugly late on. First, Hazard was sent away and beat Bravo to his near post to make it 3-1.

But then Aguero put his studs into David Luiz’s knee on an ugly challenge. In the extended scuffle that followed, Aguero and Fernandinho were both sent off.

It was an unsightly ending to a beautiful game, made all the more watchable through the influence of the men along the sidelines.

Leander Schaerlaeckens is a soccer columnist for Yahoo Sports. Follow him on Twitter @LeanderAlphabet.