Manchester City were grateful
for a penalty save from Joe Hart
and goals from Yaya Toure and
Carlos Tevez as a 2-0 win over
Chelsea allowed the defending
Premier League champions to claw back some ground in the
title race. Having given away a second-half
spot-kick with a foul on Demba
Ba and then avoided a possible
red card, England No.1 Hart
responded by saving his
international team-mate Frank Lampard's attempt from 12
yards. That set the stage for Toure and
substitute Tevez to go on and
win the game and allow City to
continue to cling to the hope of
catching table-topping
Manchester United. United had temporarily moved 15
points clear with their win at
Queens Park Rangers on
Saturday but Roberto Mancini's
City reduced that deficit by
three points. Both managers had gone into the
game under considerable
pressure but Mancini ended it far
happier than Chelsea counterpart
Rafa Benitez, who suffered more
abuse from fans. Jack Rodwell made only his third
City start and he played a part
in a positive start by the home
team, who had their first shot
within 40 seconds as Yaya Toure
took aim from the edge of the area but Petr Cech saved easily. Despite their early dominance, it
was 15 minutes before City really
tested Cech as Matija Nastasic
went forward for a corner but
the goalkeeper dealt with the
Serbian's header before then doing the same from Rodwell
later in the half. City went into the second half
with the same determination but
Sergio Aguero's acrobatic volley
from David Silva's cross went well
wide. The game's pivotal moment then
came in the 50th minute as City
switched off at the back and Ba
raced on to a long ball from deep
before shrugging off Kolo Toure
and being brought down by the onrushing Hart. Referee Andre Marriner
immediately pointed to the spot
but importantly felt Ba was just
moving away from goal and did
not show Hart a card, allowing
the goalkeeper to stay on and save Lampard's penalty. The game opened up and City
made the decisive breakthrough
just after the hour when Yaya
Toure jinked into the penalty
area before making space to curl
a low finish beyond Cech and in at the far post. Chelsea made a double change in
response, with Lampard, after a
frustrating game by recent
standards, making way along with
Eden Hazard for Victor Moses and
Oscar. But it was City substitute Tevez
who made the most dramatic
impact, putting the game beyond
the visitors with a superb strike
from outside the area five
minutes from time.