Chelsea 2 Manchester C 1:CHELSEA WON the match with a penalty from a man whose best times had seemed behind him. The substitute Frank Lampard capped his side's recovery from a Manchester City goal at the very beginning of the night.
He converted the spot kick with typical force in the 83rd minute after the raised arm of Joleon Lescott had blocked a drive by Daniel Sturridge. Chelsea thereby revived their title challenge while the leaders City suffered here after a red card for Gael Clichy early in the second half.
Those who dreaded these sides would conduct themselves with a cautious regard for one another had their fears alleviated almost immediately when City broke through in the second minute.
With John Terry pushing up, Sergio Aguero released Mario Balotelli on the right and he resisted a challenge by Branislav Ivanovic before rounding the goalkeeper Petr Cech to finish. Even so, there was nothing tumultuous about the contest at that stage. Chelsea continued to be methodical since most of the match lay before them.
There was restraint at that stage and when Didier Drogba did let fly from the fringes of the penalty area in the 25th minute the save by the visitors’ goalkeeper Joe Hart was unremarkable, even if he did concede a corner. With City enjoying their lead, the pressure bore down on the hosts and, to a degree, their manager.
Apart from its effect on the upper reaches of the table, this match was relevant as a measure of Andre Villas-Boas’s effectiveness. He is expected to rejuvenate the squad, where required, for the years ahead. As far as any outsider can tell, the owner Roman Abramovich is content to give him time.
Apart from that, the shaky home form seen from Chelsea in November appeared to come to a firm halt with the victory over Valencia that ferried the club to the last 16 of the Champions League, a destination that their principal foes, the Manchester clubs, could not reach. The manner in which Villas-Boas plotted the success against the La Liga side was intriguing. He employed a counter-attacking strategy at home and saw his side execute it perfectly, with the lone striker Drogba a terror to Valencia.
The method did not look appropriate for this fixture since City are much too dangerous to be allowed to put Chelsea under sustained threat, yet the opener had put the onus on Villas-Boas’s side to achieve some sort of domination. Their plight could have been deeper still but referee Mark Clattenburg had judged the contact insufficient for a penalty to be given after 14 minutes when Jose Bosingwa connected with David Silva.
The incident might have rankled all the more when Chelsea drew level 20 minutes later. John Terry picked out Daniel Sturridge on the right and he beat Gael Clichy before his low centre was converted with force on the volley by Raul Meireles.
With 47 minutes gone a Juan Mata free-kick from the right reached Sturridge and although his effort went high there was a reaction in the home support. They yearned to see sustained pressure but City do not succumb readily. The side looked deliberately conservative for a spell, as if returning to last season’s conservatism for a little while. Chelsea, even so, had nudged them towards that sort of policy and City were no longer at ease.
The pressure took its toll with a second yellow card that removed their left-back Clichy for a foul on Ramires in the 58th minute. It appeared then Mancini’s men could do no more than sit deep and attempt to stop Chelsea from bursting into space.
It is no simple task to keep watch over these hosts when the numbers are equal. City’s stance was obvious when Mancini took off Aguero and sent on the centre-half Kolo Toure.
It was natural for Villas-Boas’s players to seek to stretch the opposition on the flanks.
While City may have suffered then, Chelsea had torment in realising the harm done if they could not come up with a winner to revitalise their pursuit of the title.
CHELSEA: Cech, Bosingwa, Ivanovic, Terry, Cole, Ramires, Romeu, Meireles (Lampard 73), Sturridge (Mikel 88), Drogba, Mata (Malouda 84). Subs not used: Turnbull,Torres,Ferreira, Kalou. Booked: Meireles,Romeu, Ramires, Drogba.
MANCHESTER CITY: Hart, Zabaleta, Lescott (Dzeko 85), Kompany, Clichy, Milner, Toure Yaya, Barry, Silva (De Jong 75), Aguero (Toure 64), Balotelli. Subs not used: Pantilimon, Johnson, Savic, Nasri. Booked: Kompany,Clichy.
Referee: Mark Clattenburg (Tyne Wear).
