MAN CITY 2 CHELSEA 1

Adebayor og 8

Adebayor 37, Tevez 56

Man City: Given, Richards (Onuoha 69), Toure, Lescott, Bridge (Kompany 74), De Jong, Barry, W-Ph’lips, Tevez, Robinho (Zabaleta 90), Adebayor.
Chelsea: Cech, Ivanovic, Carvalho (Belletti 64), Terry (Malouda 88), A Cole, Essien, Ballack (Mikel 64), Lampard, Deco, Drogba, Anelka.

Ref: H Webb

Attendance 47,348

In the past City have been too fragile psychologically or guilty of not having players up for the physical battle against the Londoners brute strength.

In Drogba and Anelka up front backed up by Lampard, Essien and Ballack, you have a midfield powerhouse that is the most dominating midfield in the world.

In midweek City showed signs that they had that physical brute force to compete for the first time by crunching the life out of Arsenals talented young gunners.

Yet the scintillating performance today proved to millions watching that this City side now has the power to go with the skill and fancy footwork to trouble any defence in the world.

With the players such as Lescott, De Jong, Richards, Barry and Kompany City are no longer the bullied, but the bullies of the playground.

City began the game showing the same intensity as against Arsenal and looked the better side with more shots on target and corners, but fell behind to an own goal form Emmanuel Adebayor.

No one would think that the best team in Europe at the moment would have then gone on to take control of the game, but nothing could be further from the truth as City showed another part of their new character.

The new resilience that has seen City only beaten once all season was again evident as the Sky Blues immediately pressured the Chelsea midfield, playing some exhilarating stuff stretching the Chelsea fullbacks and interchanging passes at will.

City finally broke the deadlock after a centre was floated into the Chelsea area and after the ball had found its way to Adebayor the big front man lashed it into the net.

Key a predictable mass protest from Chelsea, but it was to be in vain as the goal would stand and Webb waved the players back to the centre circle.

You know you have Chelsea on the back foot, when Ashley Cole is acting like a petulant school boy as if the opposition should not have the right to be on top.

The second half continued began with the same intensity as the first with both sides looking to impose their dominance on the game.

It was City spurred on by their magnificent support that began to look like the superior team again.

After a period of intense pressure, City finally found the breakthrough when a free kick was fired in by the electric Carlos Tevez past a Peter Cech that Paul Merson had previously lorded as the best in the business last week- Nice one Toady!

You need a nut-cracker to break a hard nut as Arsenal found out to their cost last weekend and City certainly were cracking bones with Lescott and Bridge giving Drogba a hard time and De Jong showing Essien there is more than one master of destruction in this league.

City, after recent collapses, understandably had a period of uncertainty when Chelsea created a few chances.

Drogba went close on a couple of occasions and Chelsea looked like they would get an undeserved goal.

Both Wayne Bridge and Micah Richards had become casualties in this all out war and had to be replaced by Nedum Onuoha and Vincent Kompany respectively.

Gareth Barry was shifted to left back and although already exhausted and on a yellow, proved his value to the team with a composed display.

Onouha on the other hand, made the mistake of letting Drogba get goal side and a rash challenge brought the Ivory Coast star for a definite penalty.

What happened next transformed this game into a Premier League classic with all forty-eight thousand fans in the stadium, millions worldwide watching and all of the Premier League teams held their breath as Frank Lampard faced off with Shay Given.

The resulting penalty save was met with shock and exultation from no doubt everybody not wearing Chelsea Blue as Given denied Lampard’s nervous penalty making every England fan sit nervously on their chair at a similar prospect next summer in South Africa.

It seemed as though every Chelsea player had been booked, including the subs by the time John Terry was forced to leave the field but there were to be no defensive lapses this week however, as City closed out the game after six minutes of stoppage time.

Tevez and Richards were fantastic, but none of it would have been possible without winning the infantry battle against Lampard, Ballack and Essien, and Nigel De Jong’s destructive presence in midfield puts him up there with the very best defensive midfielders in the world.

Robinho has stirred up the exit rumours that have surrounded him at Manchester City by saying that he would enjoy a move to Barcelona. It had been expected that the Brazilian playmaker would be thrown into this weekend’s Manchester City match but Mark Hughes may now leave him out.

Robinho said: “Of course I would like to play for Barcelona, who wouldn’t? We could really enjoy ourselves. It would be a pleasure to play alongside [Lionel] Messi, my compatriot [Dani] Alves, Xavi, [Andrés] Iniesta, [Zlatan] Ibrahimovic, everyone. They are a great team. I have played against them and I know all about their quality. But until now I have only been able to play with them on the PlayStation.”

“Pep Guardiola’s side is truly spectacular. It is an honour that a coach like Guardiola speaks highly of me, for him to rate me as highly as I have read that he does. I genuinely appreciate it, from the bottom of my heart.”

“I can assure you that right now my father, who is my only representative, hasn’t said anything to me about Barcelona. I don’t know anything, believe me. Besides, out of respect for Manchester City, the two clubs are the ones that should talk about my transfer or loan and then tell me [what they have decided]. It’s not right to talk about this hypothetical transfer or loan until there’s something more concrete.”

“It’s a question of sitting down and talking about it when there is a concrete and serious offer. Let me make one thing clear: I have a contract with City and as a professional I owe my allegiance to them.”

A lot of people did question his move to Manchester City when it did happen and those that said it would be a matter of time until he moved on again may be proved right. The point is that City pay Robinho a stupid amount of money that probably no other club would offer so he simply has to way up whether he is more of a football player or a mercenary.

He added: “It is no secret that [in the summer] there was clear interest from Barcelona in signing me but Manchester City didn’t want to negotiate. I was declared non-transferable and that’s the way it stays.”

“I’m concentrating on doing the best I can for City. We’re thinking big now. We have built a very strong side that has aspirations of winning the Premier League with Carlos Tevez, [Emmanuel] Adebayor, [Joleon] Lescott and [Gareth] Barry.”

The unpredictable Robinho could be used by Manchester City as a piece of transfer bait ahead of the January transfer window. Robinho has been in and out of the City side for various reasons ever since he joined the club two summers ago.

Mark Hughes is showing his ambition as the manager with every game that passes and with even more big names lined up for City, Robinho could be the first player who finds himself moving another way for a more solid player.

Hughes said: “There were a lot of questions — would we be able to gel early as a team, would so-called egos in the dressing room be able to be managed — being asked of us before a ball was even kicked.”

“I think we have answered each and every one of them. We know there is a long way to go but we are pleased with the start we have made because we needed one. The review we have had of the first phase [of the season] has been good.”

Among the new names that have been connected with the club is Barcelona captain, Carlos Puyol. The Spain international is nearing the end of his career and is quickly running out of time in terms of being able to go to another club and experience a new challenge.

The big problem so far for City has been that their defence does not appear to be tight enough to keep out the most talented if sides that can score goals against them easily. This was demonstrated perfectly during the Manchester derby where they were able to score three goals at Old Trafford but still lost the match.

Puyol would probably also arrive as captain and he would bring a huge presence. He would demand perfection and could effectively seal the defence up. With Shay Given in goal, arguably one of the most under rated goalkeeprs in the history of the game, if the move comes off it would be a Hughes master stroke.

The reason that Robinho, a very good player, would be sacrificed is because Hughes is going after stability and not unpredictability. The only way City will start to win things every season is if they have a team that is full of reliable and consistent players. Not the sort of players that turn up for training late or only perform when they feel fit enough themselves.