Branizlav Ivanovic's long-ranged drive ensured Manchester City's 100% home record ended as Chelsea moved joint-second after a pulsating encounter at Etihad Stadium. City started the brightest of the two and had a blizzard of chances in the opening first-half but were made to pay for their wastefulness. Alvaro Negredo burst into the Chelsea box early on but could only blaze over, while Yaya Toure was presented with a tap-in but could not connect with Aleksander Kolarov's cross. Toure again missed a good opportunity after some good work down the left from Jesus Navas but his first-time looping shot arched just over Petr Cech's crossbar after 10 minutes. Yet David Silva had the best chance for City in the first-half when the marauding Toure bullied his way into Chelsea's box, his pass across the face of goal finding Silva, who spliced wide. And the Citizens were made to rue their profligacy when Ramirez's shot inside the penalty area was blocked by Vincent Kompany, the clearance falling as far as Ivanovic who drilled home. Samuel Eto'o then struck the woodwork before the end of a frenetic opening 45 minutes, when Eded Hazard's pass across the face of goal found him at a tight angle to strike the bar. The half-time statistics showed City had 11 shots on goal and 67% possession and they had their chances to get something out of this game but could not capitalise on any of them. City, so used to scoring goals, had just the three shots on target here, and huffed and puffed but ultimately failed to break down their determined opponents. Sergio Aguero, out for a month, was badly missed and a lack of cutting edge was further highlighted when Dzeko and Toure combined on 50 minutes, the latter flashing wide. If anything, Chelsea looked as though they would snatch another and Gary Cahill saw a header strike the post as the visitors again hit the woodwork. In response, Stevan Jovetic came on after 57 minutes, replacing Alvaro Negredo, but even the presence of the Montenegrin did little to spark City into life. Silva again came close with a free-kick that was palmed over by Cech and though City piled on the pressure late on, they time and again came up against a well-drilled Blues backline. Chelsea boasted the best defensive record in the Premier League here and the topflight's most lethal attack force came up short on this occasion. And Dzeko summed up a frustrating evening when he fluffed his lines with an air-kick late on as City missed the chance to return to the top of the league.
Joseph is an accredited football journalist and has interviewed nearly all of the current 20 Barclay's Premier League managers. He is also a correspondent for Bleacher Report and has written for Caught Offside and Give Me Football.
