Even if the industry whispers linking Manchester City with a move for Peter Kenyon lead to nothing, there is much informal advice that the Chelsea chief executive could pass on to the club he supported as a boy.

And, bizarrely, for a man who has spent more than £600 million of Roman Abramovich’s money establishing Chelsea as one of the world’s most formidable forces in football, the essence of his message would be to be careful what you spend.

Kenyon could tell City’s new owners from bitter personal experience that the biggest transfer deals are often the least productive. Andriy Shevchenko, Juan Sebastián Verón and Hernán Crespo were signed for huge fees on vast wages but delivered relatively little, while Chelsea’s push for honours was based on the efforts of those already at the club, such as Frank Lampard and John Terry. Lampard continued where he left off for England with another outstanding performance against City, scoring the game’s crucial goal to give the visiting team a 2-1 lead after Ricardo Carvalho had cancelled out Robinho’s fairytale free kick.

Chelsea’s greatest quality, which City must develop if they are to break into the top four, is one that money cannot buy. Such is the discipline and spirit among this group of players that they effectively ran themselves for much of last season, with Terry calling team meetings on a regular basis as they remained motivated despite feelings of indifference towards Avram Grant, the first-team coach. With Luiz Felipe Scolari bringing far more to the party, Chelsea have already improved and this five-star performance serves as a warning that the bar has been raised.

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“If City are as serious as they say, then they’ve got a great chance of breaking through,” Lampard said. “It won’t happen overnight. It didn’t happen with us overnight. You can’t just throw even a load of top players together and get results straight away.”

City’s signing of Robinho indicates that they have not learnt from the experience of Chelsea and are preparing to go down Real Madrid’s discredited galáctico route, which would be a mistake. The Brazilian did not have a bad debut, but contributed little after scoring with the aid of a heavy deflection from John Obi Mikel, which many people have appeared to overlook. For much of the match, Robinho was anonymous and seemed more interested in collecting Chelsea shirts, swapping with Deco at half-time and Ashley Cole at the final whistle.

Mark Hughes claimed to be pleased with Robinho, but even his manager damned him with faint praise by accepting that he only showed glimpses of his ability. The embarrassing second-half occasion on which he did three stepovers before passing the ball straight to Cole was all too typical.

“There were glimpses of what he can produce, what his talent allows him to do,” Hughes said. “He is an exceptional talent and once we get the pattern of play we want ingrained in the team, we will be able to release him in the right areas.”

The other great lesson of the Abramovich era is the importance of appointing the right manager, with José Mourinho establishing a winning mentality at the club that is still helping the players to this day. Scolari has shown signs of taking Chelsea to the next level, where they win friends as well as silverware, with some of their football on Saturday a joy to behold.

“He’s come in and given us the confidence to play good football,” Lampard said. “I think we did start well under Mourinho, but it was a different type of football. At the moment we’ve got players who are on the top of their game. The manager’s given us a real freedom to express ourselves and we need to keep doing it. I’ve enjoyed it so far, but there’s a long way to go and I want to enjoy getting silverware at the end of the season.”

The frightening thing for their rivals is Scolari’s belief that Chelsea have much to improve, though the same is true of City. Their expectant fans should not be too disheartened as in Robinho, Jô, Vincent Kompany and Micah Richards they have a group of young players around whom Hughes can build his team.

Chelsea’s first teamsheet after Abramovich’s takeover contained only four names – Terry, Lampard, Eidur Gudjohnsen and Damien Duff – who were in their title-winning side the next season, showing that investment can reap rewards rapidly, as long as the money is spent wisely.

Man City ratings (4-2-3-1)

J Hart 5 P Zabaleta 5 M Richards 5 R Dunne 5 M Ball 5 D Hamann 5 V Kompany 6 S Wright-Phillips 7 Robinho 6 S Ireland 5 Jô 6 Substitutes G Fernandes 5 (for Hamann, 61), D Sturridge (for Ball, 84). Not used K Schmeichel, Elano, J Garrido, C Evans, T Ben-Haim.

Chelsea ratings (4-1-4-1)

P Cech 6 J Bosingwa 6 R Carvalho 7 J Terry 6 A Cole 6 J O Mikel 6 J Cole 7 Deco 8 F Lampard 8 F Malouda 6 N Anelka 6 Substitutes J Belletti (for J Cole, 71min), D Drogba (for Malouda, 71), Alex (for Anelka, 79). Not used Hilário, B Ivanovic, W Bridge, S Kalou.

Referee M Halsey Attendance 47,331