Crushing Manchester City Shows Antonio Conte Has Rival Managers Running Scared

In the "Year of the Manager," as it's being billed, it seems one has got the rest of the Premier League running for cover as his team sit three points clear at the top of the table.

We're talking about Antonio Conte, who has his opponents cowering as they change their systems and style of play in an attempt to combat what his Chelsea side are doing.

Since switching to a 3-4-3, nobody has come close to bettering the Italian. Ronald Koeman, Jose Mourinho, Mauricio Pochettino and even Pep Guardiola have all tried; all of them have failed.

They're not your average football managers, either. These are figures identified as being among the Premier League's elite, and right now, Conte is making mincemeat out of them.

Only Arsene Wenger and Jurgen Klopp can claim to be his superior, but then their victories against Conte came almost by default. It was a poor imitation of his Chelsea that they put to the sword in September.

It's eight games and eight victories now since the winds of change swept through Stamford Bridge. Defeating Manchester City this weekend is the most impressive of them all, not because of the scoreline or even the performance, but because of the circumstances. It was Chelsea beating a direct title rival in their own backyard.

Added to that, Chelsea did it on their terms. Such is the threat of Conte's Chelsea now that even an esteemed coach of Guardiola's standing has to change the way his team play to give confidence he can come away with something. And even then it's not enough, as Saturday's 3-1 victory for Chelsea showed.

That speaks of power; it speaks of a team that have all those around them questioning themselves and how they operate. It speaks of a manager who is the domineering feature of the 2016/17 campaign.

City were at home on Saturday, but still they adapted to suit Chelsea. For City to do that with Guardiola at the helm, a manager who oversaw arguably the best club side we have seen since the new millennium, it was a moment of huge significance. We know City aren't Guardiola's Barcelona, but he's a manager who is used to inflicting his will on to others. Against Conte, he couldn't.

Guardiola is a tactical master. We know that after all he achieved with Barcelona and Bayern Munich. He would stifle teams with the way his players applied themselves to his principles. There were changes based on opposition, yet the makeup of his teams has so often been the same.

The challenge has always been for opposition managers to formulate the plan to beat him. Against Chelsea, it wasn't; it was Guardiola trying to beat Conte.

For the first time this season, he deployed out-and-out wing-backs from the outset in an attempt to mirror how Chelsea played. It got results, as Victor Moses and Marcos Alonso weren't as effective as they have been, but as the game wore on, Chelsea would cause problems elsewhere.

"

Conte making a bunch of average bums look like world beaters, against a Pep Guardiola side too. Best manager in the leage for sure.

— adam (@FutboyAdam) December 3, 2016"

No sooner had Guardiola dealt with one threat, Diego Costa and Eden Hazard were causing others with their desire to play on top of the City defence and expose the shortage of numbers at the back. Costa did that to great effect when beating Nicolas Otamendi before scoring Chelsea's equaliser. That was when the game turned and the Blues really took control.

It was only the third time this season that we had seen Guardiola starting a game with three defenders—the first against a side deemed at least to be City's equal.

Against Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur, Guardiola went for the usual four-man defence. Even against Barca in the Champions League, City had four at the back on each occasion in Group C.

There's something about this Chelsea team and Conte that tested Guardiola's nerve, though. From being so sure in the past when it came to his selections, he changed it. Koeman did exactly that in November when Chelsea crushed Everton 5-0 at Stamford Bridge.

The Blues' performance was breathtaking that evening, with Koeman conceding it was the strongest performance he had ever witnessed from a side playing a 3-4-3.

Not before or since that game has Koeman attempted to play with three defenders. He felt compelled to against Chelsea in an attempt to stifle the way Conte's system allows his team to play football.

We can't take anything away from the players who are implementing Conte's methods; equally, we can't shy away from the fact this is all his doing. Managers aren't facing Chelsea in this moment attempting to cancel out individuals; it's become about an entire system for them. That's the challenge they face.

James Baylis - AMA/Getty Images

Usually it's more refined tactical decisions that we'll observe in matches. For instance, a defender man-marking Hazard or centre-backs tag-teaming against Costa. Last season, Alan Pardew went so far as to admit that he asked Yannick Bolasie and Pape Soure to double up in attack on Branislav Ivanovic's flank when Crystal Palace left Stamford Bridge with a 2-1 win in August.

Those moves are common enough. When Guardiola and Koeman are going against their instincts by matching Chelsea's formation, though, it's on a whole other level. That's when the combat becomes a fight between dugouts. On Saturday, it was battle between Guardiola and Conte. The latter won.

It's evidence that points to one thing: Conte has his rivals running scared.

Garry Hayes is Bleacher Report's lead Chelsea correspondent. Follow him on Twitter @garryhayes