AVB is enjoying answering his critics back with wins as Chelsea's title hopes are kept alive with last night's win

Manchester City’s 14-match unbeaten start to the season finally came to an end last night at the hands of Chelsea, who made it three huge wins in a row and kept alive their own title hopes.

A goal within the first two minutes from Mario Balotelli in lashing rain at Stamford Bridge gave added confidence to a team already brimming with it, having gone the first third of the season unbeaten, and allowed City to put on an exhibition of incisive passing football in the first 20 minutes.  Chelsea came back strongly though and equalised through Raul Meireles before going on to win the game late in the second half through a Frank Lampard penalty after Gael Clichy had been sent off for City.

Balotelli’s goal from City’s first attack seemed to signal an omen of another thumping away win at a top four rival for Roberto Mancini’s men and cast immediate doubts on Andre Villas Boas’ decision to employ the much-maligned high line defensive strategy that has been the root of Chelsea’s problems this season.  It was a particularly odd decision from the Chelsea manager given that his team’s quickest central defender and thus the one most comfortable with the high line, David Luiz, was suspended for the game and also because the more traditional deeper line tactics had served Chelsea so well in the previous game against Valencia.

It was an excellent goal from City’s point of view however.  Sergio Aguero received the ball near the right hand byline, showed speed and strength to turn and come inside two Chelsea challenges before threading an exquisite ball in between Branislav Ivanovic and Jose Bosingwa for Balotelli to run on to.  The laid back Italian nudged the ball beyond the onrushing Petr Cech and calmly side footed into the empty net from a slight angle.

City threatened to add to their lead every time they went forward in the subsequent 25 minutes, with possession expertly retained despite keen pressing from the home side, and David Silva and Aguero constantly probing for a penetrative ball.  Chelsea struggled to get any passing rhythm of their own going and giving it away cheaply in the 14^th minute allowed Aguero to race into their penalty area, brush aside Bosingwa and wrong-foot Ashley Cole before shooting wide when he might’ve done better.  Only minutes later another flowing City move should probably have yielded a penalty, when Silva appeared to be caught by the knee of Bosingwa.  However, the theatrical fall of the Spaniard in conjunction with Bosingwa pulling out of a challenge likely persuaded referee Mark Clattenberg to deny the spotkick.

It was around the midway point of the first half that Chelsea abandoned their high line and started to come much more into the game, with Juan Mata, Raul Meireles and Daniel Sturridge starting to get more involved.  Mata received a kick and moments later a slap in the face from Yaya Toure, two offences the Ivorian was extremely lucky to escape without punishment for.

While hardly testing Joe Hart in the City goal, Chelsea had started to have a far greater share of possession and found an equaliser that wasn’t exactly against the run of play in the 34^th minute.  Sturridge tricked his way past Clichy on the right wing and crossed for an unmarked Meireles to smash into the back of the net, following a Lampard-esque timed run into the box.  While City would regret not killing off their opponents earlier in the half when they were proving a menace going forward, the truth is they had not really tested Cech much and indeed neither goalkeeper would have much to do in the entire match.

At no point in the second half were the visitors anything like the same threat they were, which in fairness to Chelsea probably had a lot
to do with their improvement.  Chelsea had a grip on the game and the runs and trickery of Ramires, Sturridge and Mata were constantly inducing free-kicks.

Oriol Romeu, the 20-year-old signed from Barcelona in the summer was imperious in the holding role of Chelsea’s midfield and Meireles, again chosen by Villas Boas in preference to Lampard, was excellent.  It was a sprint from Brazilian Ramires on to a neat flick from Drogba, that invited a rash tackle from Clichy and earning him his second booking that  ultimately destined the match in Chelsea’s favour just before the hour mark. Mancini withdrew Silva and Aguero in favour of more defensive options in a bid to hold on to a draw, but momentum was clearly with the home side.

Chelsea struggled to create chances against a resolute defence, but won the match when a Sturridge shot was blocked by the hand of Joleon Lescott and substitute Frank Lampard blasted the resultant penalty past Hart with seven minutes of normal time to play. The home side saw out the remainder of the match with little danger, largely thanks to sterling hold up play from Didier Drogba.

The win puts Chelsea seven points behind City in the table, while a defeat would have meant a virtually unassailable gap of 13 points.  Their victory would of course have been greeted just as enthusiastically by Manchester United, who now trail the leaders by two points on equal games.

Villas Boas was delighted with his team’s win, with Chelsea proving that, while in obvious transition, they’re still more than a match for anybody.  “They (the players) worked hard for it and it’s a win that puts out Premiership title very much back on track”.

Mancini rued Mark Clattenberg’s failure to award what he felt was an obvious penalty to City for a foul on Silva in the first half, but was overall quite philosophical in defeat. “In the first half we had chances to score two or three goals and if you don’t score, it’s difficult and after the
sending off it was difficult to play.  (On the penalty incident) Everyone in the stadium saw it was a penalty except him”.

While City’s unbeaten run comes to an end they still showed what a fantastic side they’ve become with the extremely high quality of their performance in the opening half hour. They do however have a challenging run of fixture coming up, starting with Arsenal at the weekend, and it’ll probably be at the end of the Christmas period that we’ll truly learn whether City have what it takes to win the league this season.