Chelsea v Man City Player Ratings 12/12

It took a few months, but Man City finally lost in the league at what has to be the hardest place to get three points in England over the last decade, Stamford Bridge.

City

Hart - 5.5; His team enjoy so much of the ball that it seems he's hardly called into action. But on those rare occasions that his services are required, he isn't always the most convincing. Blameless on this occasion however.

Zabaleta -7; The forgotten Argentine had an impressive game, getting the better of Drogba on several occasions. Struggled a little when he was moved to LB, but who wouldn't.

Kompany -7.5; Truly leads by example, and plays how a commanding center back should, by stamping his authority on the game. His one tackle on Ramires to bail out the hapless Yaya stands out in my mind.

Lescott-5.5; He appeared a little sluggish all night, but looked like he might get away with it until the handball. A silly penalty to concede when City looked like they might see out the draw.

Clichy - 5 ; A tale of two halves I'm afraid for Gael. There were warning signs in the first half when Sturridge brilliantly left him to create the first goal, (a similar move led to his first, cynical yellow card). And you'd have thought he'd have enough experience to not make the challenge that got him sent off, but unfortunately for him and City, he couldn't resist, and it turned the game.

Toure Yaya -4 ; Lazy? wasteful? complacent? I don't have enough adjectives, and this is a family-friendly blog, so I won't even try to put into words the efforts of brother Yaya. But for whatever reason, he seems to avoid the wrath of his manager and continues to find himself on the team sheet despite having the work rate of a middle-schooler who's been given a personal laptop to "learn" on.

Barry - 6.5; Quiet, yet effective night for the Englishman. Games like this remind you of why he occasionally gets into the England XI.

Milner - 6; Good pressuring and running, and found himself in good positions, but his final ball was lacking on too many occasions.

Silva -6.5; Not a memorable way to mark his 50th premier league appearance, some neat combinations at times, but failed to influence the game in his usual manner.

Balotelli- 7; Great goal to knock the game on it's head, and clearly has an incredible skill set. But can you trust baby huey enough to leave him home alone over the weekend, without coming home to find your house in shambles?

Aguero– 8; Lovely through ball to set up the first goal, came close to scoring his own on a couple occasions. Was at the heart of all of City's good work in the first half hour and was unlucky to come off after the red card.

Kolo & De jong-; Couldn't see out the result Mancini wanted.

Dzeko – His only touch was to take a shooting chance off of his teammate Barry's boot.


Chelsea

Cech-5.5; Would have been some save to stop Balotelli, wasn't up for it.

Bosingwa-6.5; After having found himself on the bench after a great start to the campaign, he made the most of his chance to show his manager his quality. Comfortable crossing with either foot, which is essential for a fullback. Perhaps a bit lucky not to concede a penalty to Silva in the early going.

Ivanovic –5; Failed to really step up and make that other CB spot his deputizing for the suspended Luiz. Probably is better on the right, but Bosingwa is a lot to sacrifice.

Terry - 6.5; Recovered nicely after the first goal to put in another solid shift. Never shies away from contact that's for sure.

Cole - 5 ; Looked frazzled like the rest of the premiership has when city were at their throats in the first thirty minutes. Calmed down as the game went on.

Ramires -6;, Not his best game, but always dangerous as it was his now trademark runs that got Clichy sent off. There won't be any questions about his fitness either (yaya) as he sprinted the length of the pitch in the 94th minute to defend. Love it.

Romeu- 7; Impressive stuff from the Spanish U21 Int'l. He showed good spatial awareness and the ability to take the sting out of the game when City were all over Chelsea in the first half. He doesn't play like a Chelsea player. (compliment)

Meireles- 6; Peripheral figure despite scoring. Made the finish look easy where he could have easily blazed over.

Sturridge-7.5 ; Had a hand in both goals, and the sending off. He has to be an automatic selection for AVB these days. Still puzzles at times with his decision making, but you have to credit him for getting into the right positions.

Drogba- 5.5; It's probably telling that the liveliest old Didier looked was in the dying moments, when he acted as human shield to time waste. We may have seen the best of the Ivorian.

Mata- 7; Was able to influence the game after City went down to 10, Chelsea are probably a better team without Lampard taking away his touches.

Lampard –There's that penalty I promised, and what a pen it was.

Malouda & Mikel - Brief cameos for the forgotten men and understudies of Mata & Romeu.

Man City verdict - Mancini got it wrong when he took off Aguero in favor of Mario when they went down to ten men, and he looked less likely to score another goal than he did to do something naughty. They were the better side for large parts of this game and will be kicking themselves when they look back and see how vulnerable Chelsea were.

Chelsea Verdict - The rest of the league will be thanking them, and you can't argue with the result, but you just wonder if AVB has some tinkering left to do before he decides how his Chelsea will play. Fernando Torres needs to play football. Frank Lampard will want to play football. It's all up for grabs at the Bridge.

Refs - Mark Clattenburg is a good referee, perhaps one of the better ones in the Prem. But he fell victim to the age-old adage of "Well, I've given one bad yellow card, so now I have to give 10 bad yellow cards." Too often referees are stubbornly predictable in their bookings. I'd love to have a favorite referee, one that I can always count on to have a good game, I'd even cheer for him, talk him up. But the more football, or any sport I watch for that matter, I just start to wonder if any good refs are even out there...