Manchester City 2 Chelsea 1:Manchester City moved to within a point of a Champions League place at Eastlands this afternoon, but more importantly sent a message to league leaders Chelsea that their expensively assembled squad is already a force to be reckoned with. The defeat was the third of the season for Carlo Ancelotti's side and stretched City's unbeaten run to nine.

Possibly more significant though, given City have drawn seven of those, was the contribution of three high profile summer signings, in goalscorers Emmanuel Adebayor and Carlos Tevez, as well as goalkeeper Shay Given, whose late penalty save from Frank Lampard made sure of the points.

The Republic of Ireland stopper was unlucky in the first half when his parry of Nicolas Anelka's shot rebounded off Adebayor and into the net, but the latter soon made amends to equalise from close range and Tevez's second half free-kick fooled the Chelsea wall and Petr Cech.

“It’s been seven or eight games since a victory in the league. It’s especially nice against Chelsea, a top team with great players," said man-of-the-match Given afterwards.

“We have only lost one game all season, and that was very late (against Manchester United) at Old Trafford, so I think we are doing all right.”

Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti was unhappy City’s opening goal was allowed to stand, claiming Micah Richards should have been penalised for handball in the build-up.

“We are disappointed, it was a tough game. We lost, but that can happen," said the Italian. “We were unlucky for the first goal, the handball against Micah Richards. It was not a good day for the referee.”

City manager Mark Hughes was unfazed by talk of the handball, predictably, and instead praised his side for sticking to the task after going one down.

“I thought we were magnificent from start to finish,” he said on ESPN. “We got off to the worst possible start, very unlucky with the goal, but from that point onwards we took the fight to Chelsea

“Not many teams can come back against Chelsea. To show the character and quality that we did was a fantastic effort by everybody.”

The Welshman had confidence in Given to save Lampard’s penalty. “You always fancy him to get a big hand on it."

Chelsea began the brighter and City had already been given one warning when Shay Given turned away Drogba’s angled drive. Chelsea’s opener was more about bad luck for the homeside.

Didier Drogba and Branislav Ivanovic could both have been more closely marked at the start of the scramble but the Blues survived that lapse when Given made

his first save. The ball bounced back to Anelka but Given got behind his shot too, only to see it strike Adebayor and bobble in.

As Chelsea should not have been awarded the corner which started the whole melee off in the first place, City could have been forgiven for believing it was

not to be their day. Far from it. They poured forward and if their delivery from set pieces had been less persistent in picking out Petr Cech, the equaliser might have come long before it did.

Cech’s only mistake had been to come for a Shaun Wright-Phillips’s cross and get nowhere near as Richards rose. Ricardo Carvalho read the situation perfectly though and made a splendidly acrobatic clearance.

City kept up their offensive and when Wright-Phillips drove another shot into the Chelsea box it ultimately brought their equaliser.

The England Under-21 full-back tried to get out of the way though the ball travelled a long way and deflected, via Terry, into Adebayor’s path. The Togo international did not fail to make up for his earlier misfortune.

If Drogba’s free-kick in the final minute of the half had been one inch inside Given’s left-hand post rather than just outside it, City might have had problems responding. As it was, they were the ones with the impetus when the sides returned and got their noses in front.

Ricardo Carvalho did have a point when he claimed he had been looking at the ball as he went for an aerial challenge with Tevez, but he also kept a leg in the air long enough to plant it into the Argentina star’s back.

Tevez added insult by shooting low past the jumping wall and mis-directing Cech, whose scramble to get a hand on it was not enough.

Given then emerged the hero when he turned away Lampard's effort after Onuoha had upended Drogba.

There was still time for Terry to limp off and Drogba to waste a glorious chance at the death although City, and Given, deserved their success.