In the battle of the Premiership’s top spending clubs at the Eastlands, a stunning winner on the hour from Argentine striker Carlos Tevez was enough to consign Chelsea to their first defeat of the season and give some hope to the chasing pack.
The champions have looked invincible in the Premiership to date, but it may be that the midweek home loss to Newcastle in the Carling Cup caused a slight dent in their self belief. In fact the City of Manchester stadium was probably the last place they would have wanted to visit, following that setback, as City took maximum points off them last season and have become something of a bogey team for Ancelotti’s men.
For much of the first half Chelsea seemed to be in cruise mode and stroked the ball around nicely, albeit without any great sense of urgency. Anelka was impressive and Ashley Cole’s forays down the left frequently presented a threat. In fact the visitors were unlucky not to take the lead when Ivanovic planted a header onto the crossbar which would certainly have been out of Joe Hart’s reach had it been just a few centimeters lower.
City’s expensive stars for once showed an impressive work rate, while not really managing to seriously threaten the Chelsea goal, and the first half ended goalless. But to City’s credit, it was the first time this season that Chelsea had gone past 34 minutes without scoring.
Anelka again came out looking lively and forced Joe Hart into an early save. At the other end Petr Cech was brought into the action, tipping Silva’s awkward low shot from an angle on the left round the post. However, it was a moment of brilliance worthy of winning any encounter that proved to be the deciding factor on 59 minutes.
The mercurial Carlos Tevez picked up the ball just inside Chelsea’s half and headed for goal. Both John Terry and Ashley Cole made the fatal mistake of initially dropping off him and allowing him to get within shooting range. Even so, Tevez still had plenty to do and his hard low shot from outside the penalty area went through Cole’s legs, beat Cech’s outstretched right hand and went in off the far post.
Chelsea pressed forward in search of an equalizer after going behind but never looked like overrunning the City defense in the manner that has brought them a veritable hatful of goals in their previous league matches of the current campaign. With Frank Lampard absent, Chelsea’s usual drive and inspiration from midfield was missing.
Michael Essien had several pots at goal from long range but clearly didn’t have his shooting boots on, and Anelka started to fade as the match wore on. Drogba was out of sorts and substituted on 74 minutes to give Sturridge a chance of glory against his old club. Sturridge was predictably booed every time he touched the ball and had little impact.
Tevez also came off with five minutes left, but to a thoroughly deserved standing ovation from the City faithful.
The champions have looked invincible in the Premiership to date, but it may be that the midweek home loss to Newcastle in the Carling Cup caused a slight dent in their self belief. In fact the City of Manchester stadium was probably the last place they would have wanted to visit, following that setback, as City took maximum points off them last season and have become something of a bogey team for Ancelotti’s men.
For much of the first half Chelsea seemed to be in cruise mode and stroked the ball around nicely, albeit without any great sense of urgency. Anelka was impressive and Ashley Cole’s forays down the left frequently presented a threat. In fact the visitors were unlucky not to take the lead when Ivanovic planted a header onto the crossbar which would certainly have been out of Joe Hart’s reach had it been just a few centimeters lower.
City’s expensive stars for once showed an impressive work rate, while not really managing to seriously threaten the Chelsea goal, and the first half ended goalless. But to City’s credit, it was the first time this season that Chelsea had gone past 34 minutes without scoring.
Anelka again came out looking lively and forced Joe Hart into an early save. At the other end Petr Cech was brought into the action, tipping Silva’s awkward low shot from an angle on the left round the post. However, it was a moment of brilliance worthy of winning any encounter that proved to be the deciding factor on 59 minutes.
The mercurial Carlos Tevez picked up the ball just inside Chelsea’s half and headed for goal. Both John Terry and Ashley Cole made the fatal mistake of initially dropping off him and allowing him to get within shooting range. Even so, Tevez still had plenty to do and his hard low shot from outside the penalty area went through Cole’s legs, beat Cech’s outstretched right hand and went in off the far post.
Chelsea pressed forward in search of an equalizer after going behind but never looked like overrunning the City defense in the manner that has brought them a veritable hatful of goals in their previous league matches of the current campaign. With Frank Lampard absent, Chelsea’s usual drive and inspiration from midfield was missing.
Michael Essien had several pots at goal from long range but clearly didn’t have his shooting boots on, and Anelka started to fade as the match wore on. Drogba was out of sorts and substituted on 74 minutes to give Sturridge a chance of glory against his old club. Sturridge was predictably booed every time he touched the ball and had little impact.
Tevez also came off with five minutes left, but to a thoroughly deserved standing ovation from the City faithful.
