Pep Guardiola said Town have something special abut them given their progress from League One to the Premier League following his side’s 4-1 defeat of the Blues at the Etihad Stadium.
Town went ahead through Sammie Szmodics’s first goal for the club on seven but three goals in 191 second five minutes later all but won the game. Erling Haaland completed his hat-trick in the 88th minute, the Norwegian having scored the first, from the spot, and third, Kevin De Bruyne having grabbed the second.
"The team started really well on the front foot,” Guardiola said. "We played really good, but the opponents made an exceptional action and credit to them.
"We started on the front foot, always we talk about that, and it is not good enough for what we achieve.
"This is the only problem we can have. When I see how we started and how much respect we have for them.
"I said as they come from the Championship to the Premier League, it’s because they have something special.
"I saw the game against Liverpool and how tough it was. At home in their own stadium, it was maybe more difficult than it was today.
"But we played on the front foot and in the first half we created enough for four or five goals and the game would be over.
"At 3-1 it is always ‘uh-oh, score a second goal and it would have been a problem’. We behaved at a level that we started at Stamford Bridge today. With the lack of preparation we had, to go two for two is really good.”
Regarding hat-trick scorer Haaland, he added: "He can compete in terms of goals with Ronaldo and Messi.
"The numbers are incredible for his age. He’s an incredible threat for us and we’re really happy to have him.
"Hopefully he can be here for many years. That would be really good for us. You know how important he is. The numbers, scoring goals is unbelievable.”