Man City 0-1 Chelsea
Chelsea reduced Manchester United's lead at the Premiership summit
to six points and piled the pressure on Manchester City boss Stuart
Pearce. Frank Lampard's 28th minute penalty, scored after Micah
Richards' foul on Salomon Kalou, leaves City facing a desperate
battle against relegation.
Richards also cleared off the line from Lampard and Shaun
Wright-Phillips hit the bar for Chelsea in the second half. City,
in contrast, failed to carve out a single serious chance in the
match. Chelsea were able to recall captain John Terry after the
head injury he sustained in the Carling Cup final against Arsenal.
And he was up against Emile Mpenza, who was handed his first start
up front as City attempted to revamp their strike force in a bid to
cure their chronic goal shortage.
But it was a piece of naive defending by highly-rated youngster
Richards, a reported transfer window target for Chelsea in January,
that set City back on their heels after 28 minutes. Richards
unwisely threw himself into a challenge on Kalou, leaving referee
Alan Wiley with no option but to point to the spot. Lampard coolly
sent Andreas Isaksson, preferred to Nicky Weaver in goal, the wrong
way with his penalty.
City, for all their endeavour, posed little threat, and they were
reduced to a shot from 18 yards by Joey Barton that flew well wide.
Chelsea suffered a scare after the break when Terry started limping
heavily after a challenge, and even though he carried on with what
appeared to be an ankle injury, he still looked
uncomfortable.
Richards made some amends for his earlier mistake after 56 minutes,
clearing off the line after Lampard had lifted the ball over
Isaksson towards the empty net. Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho sent on
City old boy Wright-Phillips for the subdued Arjen Robben with 13
minutes left, and he almost doubled Chelsea's lead within seconds
of his arrival, hitting the bar with a rising 20-yard drive.
City's lack of invention was almost embarrassing, but Barton
threatened an unlikely equaliser after 80 minutes - however, he
shot wastefully wide. Chelsea had hardly been peppering City's goal
either, but Didier Drogba brought a block from Isaksson as time ran
out. And Isaksson then saved from Michael Ballack in injury time as
Chelsea claimed the three points.
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Manchester City manager Stuart Pearce:
"There is talk of rifts in the camp, but you can't put on a
performance like that against one of the best teams in the world if
you have rifts in your camp - it just doesn't happen. "I've got a
fantastic job at a fantastic football club. I'm just looking
forward to winning the game at Middlesbrough if possible.
"Do I have the chairman's full support?
"Well I don't walk past him (John Wardle) every day and ask him if
I've got his full support. The other night he bought me a sandwich
at the reserve game and that's a real show of affection from our
chairman."
Chelsea assistant manager Steve Clarke:
"We have always felt the gap between us and Manchester United is
manageable. Six points is not a big distance. "One defeat for them
and the gap is three points, and the pressure is really on. We are
going to chase them all the way. "We will not make the first
mistake in the title run-in and hopefully they will make it sooner
rather than later. We know what we have to do."
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Man City: Isaksson, Richards, Dunne, Distin, Ball, Jihai (Miller
63), Ireland, Barton, Hamann (Dabo 80), Mpenza, Vassell (Samaras
72).
Subs Not Used: Hart, Dickov.
Booked: Hamann, Dunne, Richards.
Chelsea: Cech, Geremi, Carvalho, Terry, Ashley Cole, Robben
(Wright-Phillips 77), Ballack, Lampard, Makelele (Diarra 90),
Kalou, Drogba.
Subs Not Used: Cudicini, Shevchenko, Boulahrouz.
Booked: Drogba, Ballack.
Goals: Lampard 28 pen.
Att: 39,429
Ref: A Wiley (Staffordshire).
