Chelsea 2-1 Manchester City

                                               Lampard scoring winning penalty (83)

At a rainy Stamford Bridge, goals from Raul Meireles and a late Frank Lampard penalty sealed a 2-1 win for the hosts against a 10-man Manchester City. The result ending the Premiership leaders’ unbeaten run in spite of Mario Balotelli’s second-minute opener.

In a somewhat turbulent week for the Chelsea manager, it’s fair to say that Andre Villas-Boas would have been looking forward to letting football do the talking again. However, the game could not have got off to a worse start for the home side. Some smart work from Aguero; feeding a ball through to Balotelli (2), finding Ivanovic on the wrong side, the Italian forward rounding Petr Cech and finishing into the empty net and celebrating in his trademark nonchalant way.

From there, City looked to sit back and allow Chelsea possession, looking for chances to counter attack. On 14 minutes, City broke through Silva with the Spaniard going down under pressure from Jose Bosingwa in the box. City’s claims for a penalty were (correctly) turned away from Referee Mark Clattenburg.

From this point, Chelsea kept the majority of the ball but failed to create too many chances and City still looking by far the more threatening team going forward. This was until Daniel Sturridge found room behind Gael Clichy, beating the Frenchman easily and cutting back for Raul Meireles (34) to score on the volley after a good, late run into the box.

Sturridge was impressive throughout, and it must be questioned how long Villas-Boas will continue to utilise him out on the left rather than through the middle.

Meireles however, was lucky to stay on the pitch just minutes later after a foul on Zabaleta – catching the defender high up on the shin with his studs up – but only receiving a yellow.

It could be said City had every right to feel aggrieved going into half-time level after dominating the majority of the first-half and with the two decisions – Silva penalty and Meireles red card – not going their way.

The rain continued to lash down in the second-half, Chelsea coming out of the traps with some intent; Sturridge finding space on the edge of the box, his shot flying inches over Joe Hart’s crossbar. The game settled into more of a rhythm from there but with very few chances for either side.

Robust defending from Chelsea saw them break up City’s attacks well and limit the visitors chances with Romeu playing another solid game in midfield. City responded with a series of strong challenges -  resulting in a poor Clichy (58) tackle on Ramires – picking up a second yellow card and a resultant red rounding off a poor night for the French Full-back.

From this point on City looked devoid of ideas and a number of negative substitutions did not help their cause. Creative sparks Aguero and Silva were removed for Kolo Toure and De Jong respectively. Mancini clearly looking to settle for a draw.

Meanwhile, AVB was lining up Frank Lampard to come on in place of goalscorer Meireles.

On 82 minutes, Chelsea were awarded a penalty from Lescott’s handball; Sturridge cutting in onto his left and firing towards goal, the England defender Lescott blocking the ball with his raised arm.

The stage was set for Lampard (83), who took the ball away from Mata to place the ball on the spot and smashed the ball into the roof of the net. It was clear to see what that goal meant to Lampard, kissing the club badge as he celebrated with supporters behind the goal.

That goal signalled an end to Manchester City’s challenge in the game and sparked wild celebrations from the home supporters that continued to the final whistle.

It must be said Man City will rue the opportunity they had when 1-0 up not to push on and go for the win as well as the negative substitutions from Mancini.

But for AVB this win has rounded off a big fortnight, after qualifying for the Champions League group-stage and now moving back into third place in the Premier League the Portuguese manager has managed to quieten some of his critics.

Evan Bartlett 12.12.11

This article can also be found at Tattoed Football http://tattooedfootball.com/?p=943