clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Chelsea 0-1 Manchester City: Goal by Goal

Chelsea's defence might have the answers against human opposition, but they don't know how to deal with tricksy little hobbits.
Chelsea's defence might have the answers against human opposition, but they don't know how to deal with tricksy little hobbits.

This will be mercifully quick:

1-0 Manchester City (-0.87 pts): Chelsea have a corner after Pablo Zabaleta cleans up a cross. It's quickly cleared and sent back into the mix by Ramires, who sees Didier Drogba free down the right. Drogba sends in a cross, the city defence is once against first to it, although they don't clear properly. The ball bounces around the area for a few seconds before it's skies downfield, where Carlos Tevez is forced to square off against Jon Obi Mikel and John Terry for the header. Unsurprisingly, the Argentine loses out, but he causes Mikel enough of an issue that he's forced to play a slightly dangerous nodded pass to Ramires, which he pulls off perfectly. Unfortunately, Ramires is either unaware that he's about to be put under pressure or unable to do anything about it, and is instantly knocked off the ball by James Milner, who feeds Yaya Toure before setting off down City's left wing. By now, David Silva is driving forward, but Toure elects to pass to Tevez in the centre circle. It's now essentially a three on three break, with Silva, Milner, and Tevez against Terry, Mikel, and Ashley Cole. Terry picks up Silva's run, Mikel shadows Milner, and Cole is match up against Tevez, who is driving hard towards the penalty area. Silva wiggles around, eventually drawing Terry away from Cole, making it much harder for the fullback to challenge Tevez. The Argentine reaches the top of the Chelsea box, and takes a hard right turn before shifting the ball back to his right foot and firing a shot in through Cole's legs and off the far post. Ramires is the primary culprit here - he simply cannot afford to be nudged off the ball in that sort of position. You have to tip your hat to Milner and Tevez especially for a job well done, though.

Diagram after the jump.

Figure 1: Ramires loses the ball to Yaya Toure, forcing Mikel, Terry, and Cole into defending a 3 on 3 rush, ultimately converted by Carlos Tevez.

Sign up for the newsletter Sign up for the We Ain't Got No History Daily Roundup newsletter!

A daily roundup of Chelsea news from We Ain't Got No History