Manchester City look like the only team that will mount any sort of challenge to stop Chelsea strolling to the Premier League title this season. There are no other sides out there that can come close, with faltering starts from Arsenal (due largely to their expansive injury list) and Liverpool, the race for the crown looks to be a two horse one.

Diego Costa has been instrumental for Chelsea so far this season scoring 9 goals - a record which was a way off being matched, until Sergio Aguero put four past Tottenham Hotspur last weekend to boost his goal tally.

Every team needs a talisman just as much as they need every squad member to put in their own contribution on the goals tally front, and for Chelsea Costa has been their talisman without a doubt so far. With his goals coming in thick and fast, he has propelled his team to a five point lead at the top of the table which may prove to be the breathing space they need when this purple patch of form decides to die down and they start dropping points.

So what has to happen to put a stop to the Blues' deadly run away trail of destruction? None of the chasing pack have really looked like they have a lot to offer in terms of matching what Chelsea have shown so far with their winning mentality, with the Londoners the 'team to beat'. Manchester City had Yaya Toure pulling their strings last season, and they looked like an invincible force that no one could cope with, and a side that you could safely put money on to rack up an impressive goal tally each weekend and defeat pretty much anyone that they came across. yet so far this season they have not shown half of what they managed to do last season.

They need their own talisman, a new puppet master to step up and start pulling the strings, show some magic and inspire the rest of the team to pick up and show their own tricks to start bulldozing the opposition every week to match Chelsea.

Their game against Tottenham over the weekend finally provided them with exactly that player - Sergio Aguero. He looked unplayable for the whole game, and single handedly scored every goal for his team in the 4-1 demolition of Spurs. On his day, Aguero is one of the best centre forwards in the world, he has a pure, classy and unadulterated talent and ability, which when he is fit and up for it, he likes to exploit to its maximum impact. He is a force to be reckoned with, which is exactly the sort of player City need right now to try and close the gap that separates them from Chelsea.

If his last game is anything to go by then he has done well to set the bench mark required for the rest of the season performance wise - not only for himself but for his other team mates. It was a rallying call to the troops, to step up to the plate and get their heads down. The first part of the season was below par, but now after such an inspirational performance up front, it is time to look ahead and start going on a run.

That is at least what City will hope will happen and it usually is the case when someone of Aguero's ability hits goal scoring form like he did over the weekend, they tend to push on from there, and if he can continue in the same goal scoring form - especially whilst Costa is sidelined for Chelsea with his hamstring injury - then it will be City's best chance to play catch up and start staking a real claim to the title race and put that much more pressure on the west Londoners, who up until now seemed like they were going to run away with it.

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