The Blues more than matched the Treble winners and deservedly earned a point courtesy of Cole Palmer’s ice-cool injury-time penalty.

Sanchez could do nothing about the four goals City scored, but he did provide one of the game’s many highlights with a superb save to deny Erling Haaland shortly after we went 2-1 up. The Spaniard reflected on another impressive showing against a top team.

‘We went toe to toe with them,’ Sanchez said.

‘We know how good we are on the counter-attack when we play quick and fast, and we did that and scored four goals.

‘If we can do it against Man City, we can do it against anyone, that’s the message. We could have got more than a draw, but we are starting to get the points we deserve.

‘Some games we’ve been unlucky, but it’s true sometimes you get a bit more of that energy inside when you play the big teams. The boys are doing great.’

With almost a third of the Premier League season complete, Chelsea lie in mid-table. We may be well behind the pacesetters but Mauricio Pochettino’s men are trending upwards. Sanchez explained why that is, and the reasons behind his confidence we can trouble the top four.

‘It’s a young team. We need time to get to know each other, build relationships, know our strengths from different players, and that’s what we’ve been doing. You can see we are improving every game. We are connecting and we’re feeling good on the pitch now.

‘The fans can see the fighting spirit. That’s what we always talk about in the changing room, the spirit is building, and we are fighting and feeling we can win every game.

‘We want to get nearer the top, to get into Europe, into the Champions League. It’s possible. It’s a big ask, but we have the spirit, the confidence, and the belief. We know the quality we have.’