The Italian scored twice as Chelsea ended their barren run with a 3-0 success. 
And boss Claudio Ranieri left giving the impression he had hit City with the ultimate sucker punch.
"We tried to leave plenty of space, so we could counter-attack when necessary," said the Italian.
"I was worried about the first 15 minutes because we weren't able to work with the players until Friday after the internationals.
"We made a few mistakes at the start but though City deserved to score, they couldn't and we improved as the match went on."
But the real tribute was left for Zola, the man highlighted by Keegan as Chelsea's dangerman, who now tops the Premiership goalscoring charts with his eight-goal haul.
Two years ago, his career looked to be over. Now Ranieri thinks he could play every day.
"Even in Italian, I can hardly find the words to describe what Zola means to us," he said.
"He works so hard and believes in himself. He has passion and heart. He may only be small in size but he is a big man - our leader, a great example to his team-mates.
"I was thinking about rotating him but he looks fresh enough to play every game. He could play every 24 hours if we asked him to. He is unbelievable."