Jamie Carragher has heaped enormous credit on Mauricio Pochettino after the Chelsea boss ensured his side remained unbeaten against top four/five/six rivals following an immense 4-4 with Pep Guaridola. In one of the best games of the season, surpassing even the madness from last week's 4-1 win over Tottenham, Pochettino's men came from behind three times to stop the champions.

Taking the game to Guardiola's side despite starting the afternoon ten places behind and 12 points adrift of the table-toppers, Chelsea came from 1-0 down to lead in the first half before fighting back twice after the break to earn a well-deserved point. It means that after 12 matches, the Blues are still stranded in mid-table but haven't lost in their four meetings with sides competing for Champions League places.

When the win over Brighton in the Carabao Cup is added Chelsea have won two of five - drawing three - in encounters with Liverpool, Arsenal and now City. Four of those have been at home, something to take into account as they prepare for games with Newcastle and Manchester United on the road.

What it does, though, is it leaves them with the best record so far of any side against the so called top six. City lost to Arsenal, Arsenal lost to Newcastle, Newcastle lost to Liverpool, Liverpool lost to Tottenham and Tottenham were beaten by Chelsea. Nobody has beaten Chelsea out of those teams.

Aston Villa, currently fifth and ahead of Manchester United and the Magpies, did win at Stamford Bridge but also were defeated by Liverpool. United on the other hand have been near useless against the big sides, losing to City, Arsenal and Tottenham already.

This, for Chelsea, is a complete reversal on the mean from recent years after only picking up three points in 2022/23 against last year's top six without any wins. For the top half as a whole they got nine points from a possible 60, only beating Villa and that was when they were hovering above the relegation zone.

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Carragher, who has been hypercrytical of the running of the club in the past 18 months, believes that almost all of this comes down to the man in charge. "The best thing about Chelsea right now is Mauricio Pochettino, not the players or the owners," he said on Sky Sports after the game.

"When you talk about them getting back to winning trophies, I'm not sure they could have got a better manager that was available." The former Liverpool man added: "I think there’s a lot to feel good about at Chelsea, Pochettino right now, his young team, there’s a lot of optimism there because they have a manager who can go up against the best."

It was Pochettino who last managed a side putting four goals past Guardiola and his Tottenham team often went up against City and the other top sides in ding-dong battles. The Argentine was widely criticised for a lack of wins in those games, though, despite positive performances.

The same had been the case for Chelsea until last week after they played well but failed to beat Liverpool and Arsenal. The victory over Spurs was the first in nearly two years for the Blues against a direct top-four rival, though, and it was also the first time since May 2021 that they had beaten a side that went into the game as favourites against them.

Given that Chelsea finished 12th last year, scoring just 38 goals - they already have 21 this term - there is definite improvement under Pochettino even if it has been a rough ride in the opening months of the season. "We’re almost a third of the way through the season, and you’re expecting Chelsea to get better under Pochettino," continued Carragher.

"I don’t think they get top four, but should they, will they still have a fight for it? Of course! You’re not fighting against the best teams in the league if you don’t have a say in that conversation and they’ll be dropping points as well. We’ve seen this weekend that Newcastle have lost, Tottenham lost, and that’ll happen over weekends. People will be dropping points around them but Pochettino as a manager, he’s the thing that’d make me believe they have a chance to compete at the top."

He finished: "What Pochettino has done in big games is fantastic. He’s a manager who will go up against [Jurgen] Klopp, Guardiola, [Mikel] Arteta and he doesn’t quite have the tools that they have - people will argue about the amount of money they’ve spent and whatever but be honest, look at what they have on paper. It’s still short on what a few of the top teams have but what they’ve managed to do has been fantastic."

Chelsea will next be tested by Eddie Howe's Newcastle, a side that blew them away at St James' Park this time last year. Everything this time round indicates that the game will be a lot more even and competitve, largely thanks to Pochettino.

What makes this even more impressive is that Pochettino has been able to do it without one of his best players. Christopher Nkunku, who many had expected to be fighting for player of the season awards, is yet to even feature in a competitve game due to injury.

Carragher has urged caution over expecting too much from the 25-year-old too quickly, especially with an adaption period needed for his introduction to English football, but few would have banked on Chelsea getting close in matches against their rivals without his presence.