Manchester City stun league leaders Chelsea
Manchester City have proven to the English Premier League, and all of Europe, that Carlo Ancelotti's men are in fact mortal as Manchester City earned a hard fought 1-0 victory at home against a Chelsea side who since the start of the season had seemed nearly
invincible.
Chelsea had had one of the most memorable starts to the Premier League season with five consecutive wins and scoring a dazzling 21 goals along the way while conceding only one. They had also had a marvelous start to their European campaign by scoring four
goals against Slovakia's Zilina. But their perfect record came to a halt on Saturday when City striker Carlos Tevez fired a low shot from just outside the 18-yard box which flew past the outstretched arms of Petr Cech just before the hour mark.
Manchester City did a tremendous job of keeping the high-flying Chelsea strike force off the board. Nigel De Jong and Garreth Barry carried most of the midfield load and were instrumental in preventing quality chances getting to the Chelsea strikers. They
were also instrumental in getting the ball out to midfielder James Milner who was busy patrolling the left wing and creating attacking opportunities for Manchester City along that flank. As always, Joe Hart was solid in goal for Manchester City as he has been
for most of the early part of the season.
For most of the match it appeared as though the two sides were canceling each other out with either side having difficulty creating real opportunities in front of goal and both sides being left really with only half chances. It then came down to a moment
of opportunism and a great effort from Carlos Tevez who scored his fourth of the season.
As the game wore on Chelsea poured forward looking for a point but defenders Vincent Kompany and Kolo Toure were up to the challenge and Chelsea were forced to try shooting from distance, all of which Joe Hart could easily deal with.
It was a weekend of upsets in the Premier League where Manchester City must have felt like the big winners as they gained valuable ground, not only on the leaders Chelsea, but they are also now tied for third place on 11 points with Arsenal who lost to West
Bromwich Albion, and only a single point behind second place cross-town rivals Manchester United who had to settle for a 2-2 draw with Bolton. Chelsea, despite the loss, remain a full three points clear at the top of the table and will look to restore order
in midweek as they play host to French side Marseille in the Champions League on Tuesday.
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