Goals from Erling Haaland and former Chelsea midfielder Mateo Kovacic handed City their first win of the new campaign — and Enzo Maresca a defeat during his debut match in charge of the Blues.
Although Maresca opted for a midfield three of Enzo Fernandez, Moises Caicedo and Romeo Lavia against the champions in a bid to control the game and protect the back four more securely, Chelsea were outplayed in the engine room by Pep Guardiola's dominant side.
While on co-commentary duty for Sky Sports, Neville delivered a scathing assessment of Fernandez's performance, criticising the Argentina star for continually failing to win the ball while pressing City.
‘Enzo Fernandez presses when he can’t win it a lot,' Neville said.
Neville criticised Fernandez for 'throwing his arms to his team-mates' after struggling to win the ball while pressing Man City's players - and said the Argentine 'is not kidding anyone'
'He then throws up his arms to his team-mates as if to say, “Where were you?”. He is not kidding anyone.
‘I thought Chelsea would take more a few more risks on the ball. But they have been quite basic. The Chelsea midfield are being run ragged.’
Caicedo (£115m), Fernandez (£107m) and Lavia (£53m) arrived at Chelsea last summer for a combined total of £275m.
Ex-Chelsea star Pat Nevin also criticised Fernandez following the disappointing defeat, negatively comparing the Argentine to his team-mate Conor Gallagher ahead of the midfielder's expected move to Atletico Madrid.
‘Enzo has been very, very quiet in that number 10 position,’ he told BBC Radio 5 Live.
‘You have to be central to everything in that position. If you’re Conor Gallagher you’d be thinking you can do better than that.
‘Enzo is not coming back and covering the space but he’s not doing much going forward either. He has to do more for the team defensively.’
Chelsea fans were heard chanting Gallagher's name shortly after City took the lead through Haaland in the first half, clearly disappointed by the club's decision to sell the England international.