Gamesmanship again

FA Premiership/Chelsea 2 Manchester City 0: Two players committed handling offences here and they were met with very different decisions. For one, referee Rob Styles turned a blind eye as Didier Drogba plundered his second goal; for the next, he adopted a literal reading of the laws to send off the Manchester City captain Sylvain Distin, who refused to give him the ball at half-time, his second act of dissent.

After the game Drogba admitted handling the ball in the build-up - and his habit of diving. Yesterday he retracted both statements, saying that "in the emotion of winning the game my comments have come across partly in the wrong way", adding, "I want to make clear that I don't dive".

But his attitude to simulation has been made clear and was proved again on Saturday as he collapsed when Danny Mills ran in his vague direction.

No free-kick was given, but the full back was so frustrated he launched himself into Damien Duff and was booked.

Chelsea's excellence should have been the lasting memory of this game. Instead it is their gamesmanship, again.

Drogba had already scored one, excellent, goal when the ball looped towards him in the 33rd minute. Instinctively, he controlled it with his arm and, unmarked five yards from goal, shot low and hard beyond David James.

"Yes, it was handball," he said. "But sometimes this is the game. I don't know how to explain. The ball comes to me and I can't do nothing other than this."

Sometimes this is the game.

When Arjen Robben collapses clutching his throat and Liverpool's Jose Reina is sent off; when Shaun Wright-Phillips trips over nothing to earn Newcastle's Robbie Elliott a second yellow card; when Drogba, just a week earlier, attempts to score using his fist against Fulham; when Chelsea are twice charged with failing to control their players.

Sometimes this is the game.

Distin and Kiki Musampa were both booked for dissent after protesting Chelsea's second goal. After the half-time whistle, Distin picked up the ball, approached the referee and, from a distance and without appearing to use any threatening or intimidating gestures, spoke to Styles again. The defender explained that the official demanded that he return the ball and, when Distin did not comply, booked him again.

Many clubs discipline players who are sent off for dissent, but there will be no further punishment for the Frenchman.

"The only policy we have is how I deem that the players should conduct themselves," said Stuart Pearce. "I've got a bond with my captain at this football club because I know him, I know him inside and out and like him as a man. I trust his word. If he says to me what happened, I believe what he said. I don't deem that fineable."

Hampered by injuries, City played with five at the back and only one up front, a formation which denied them width in midfield and allowed the home side's full-backs the time and space in possession to stand out. Asier Del Horno, whose ability has frequently been doubted this season, sent in a succession of dangerous centres - one 60 yards from goal created a good chance for Drogba - and made his nominal opponent, Willo Flood, look like a drip.

It was his brilliant, improvised header which diverted Joe Cole's wayward shot across goal to create the disputed second.

Chelsea's domination, especially in the first half when City still had 11 men, was almost total. Forward they flowed, and Drogba provided a fitting moment of attacking excellence when he turned David Sommeil before thumping the ball left-footed past James for the opener.

It was not much of a contest but the champions were impressive all the same. In the end it seems Chelsea's spark is still greater than their spite.

Sometimes this is the game, but not often enough.

Meanwhile, Chelsea have dismissed as "totally false" Sunday newspaper claims that Sven-Goran Eriksson could replace Jose Mourinho as manager.

A Chelsea spokesman said: "More totally false stories have been published today with the sole aim of destabilising the club and undermining its success. This will not succeed and we will not continue to comment on reports of this nature.

"As we have previously made clear the club and the Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho are united in an exciting and long-term project to make the club one of the most successful both on the field and off the field in Europe."