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 82nd 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 Gaël Clichy early in the second half.
Those who dreaded that 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. The period when Chelsea were a team famed for intransigence and patience seemed almost like a false memory.
With John Terry pushing up, Sergio Agüero 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. The crowd was merely subdued, as if awaiting further clues about this occasion.
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 André 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 the newcomer time and the fact that he paid Porto £13.3m for Villas-Boas would leave him looking absurd if he were to sack the manager.
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 the referee Mark Clattenburg had judged the contact insufficient for a penalty to be given after 14 minutes when José Bosingwa connected with David Silva.
That verdict was peculiar since a foul does not necessarily involve great force. 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 easily beat Gaël Clichy before his low centre was converted with force on the volley by Raul Meireles. All in all, the occasion had not been prone to hysteria. That may reflect the fact that these are managers at least striving to be measured. Each of them appreciates just how much hysteria can sweep over them because of the fascination the public might have with their budgets being authorised for this apparent struggle for command of English football.
That, all the same, did not rule out enterprise. 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 that 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 Agüero and sent on the centre-half Kolo Touré. With the visitors seemingly prepared to base themselves in and around their own penalty area, it was hard for Chelsea to recreate some of the flowing play this match had contained in the opening 45 minutes.
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.
Premier League 2011-12ChelseaManchester CityPremier LeagueKevin McCarraguardian.co.uk
