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We did not expect to win on present form and guess what .. we didn't but at least the display was a great deal better than of late and if the team continue to play at this level then City should not go down. City had a fair amount of the play but once more we failed to score ... albeit against one of the strongest defences in the league. With the return of John Terry, Chelsea's defence was once again back to form but City gave them a game and if referee Alan Wiley had been in a more giving mood we might have had a penalty to equalize Chelsea's. However I always had the feeling that if we had scored Chelsea had the ability to up their game and go for a winner.

Isaksson replaced Weaver in goal and Mpenza had a full debut replacing Corradi

Vassell tried to make early inroads to the Chelsea defence but found himself well outnumbered

Sun's tackle on Cole which did not bring a free kick to Chelsea brought out the worst in moaning minny Lampard

This attack by Richards was foiled by Cole but a few minutes later another cross caused some apprehension in the Chelsea defence

Richards and Hamann try to stop Robben who often switched wings

Lampard about to try and break the City defence

Cech has to do some acrobatics to prevent a corner

......The Chelsea player ended up being brought down by Richards and the referee gave a penalty. I thought the tackle was ill judged as the ball looked to be going out.

Lampard scored from the penalty - Isaksson diving the wrong way. However you will have noticed that before the ball was kicked 2 Chelsea players had encroached as well as City players. In the old days the ref would have ordered a retake for a goal or a retake for a save.

Immediately afterwards at the other end Barton was brought down in the area but as you can see the Chelsea players were quick to point out that the referee couldn't possibly give a penalty against them!

Lampard continued to lecture the referee or was he asking whether the ref had read his book!

Richards fails to connect

City did put some pressure on the visitors goal though failing to make any good chances

Chelsea were fortunate not to concede a penalty when Dunne was bundled over by Cech

A great last ditch tackle on Kalou by Dunne saves City

Oh dear Drogba is down hurt as the Chelsea bench rush to his rescue

Hamann ends up being booked for the tackle as Drogba makes a miraculous recovery.

It looked pretty dangerous as Lampard burst through but his shot was chipped over Isaksson and it went up into the air...........

....... towards the goal but there was Richards to head the ball into the arms of the City keeper who has a smile about it.

Chelsea having to defend once again

Mpenza who tried hard and looked promising in action against Makele

Barton's shot just sailed wide of goal after 80 minutes

Miller who came on for Sun after 62 minutes had a few runs at goal without success.

Drogba and Richards have a little tussle with Barton rushing in as peacemaker. Both Drogba and Richards got booked.

We saw a little of Shawn Wright -Phillips who came on after 77 minutes. He almost scored with his first tough the ball scraping the bar.

Drogba was always in the thick of the action having to help his defenders

Looks like Dunne is being impeded here - in the box too!

The City defence is in a tangle here and eventually.............

...Isaksson manages to foil Ballack

Cech catches a City corner

With 2 away games next against Middlesbrough and Newcastle to come it is going to be tough going especially if Charlton win. Crunch match will be the home fixture against Charlton at the beginning of April but will we still have the same manager then? The team played pretty well today and if Mpenza can continue his promising partnership with Vassell we might well stay up. Dunne was magnificent today and Distin was back to form. Ball and Richards are doing OK at fullback. Hamann did some nice passing as did Ireland. One cannot fault Jihai Sun for sheer effort. Can they keep it going though?

Team
Isaksson 7: Richards 7, Dunne 9, Distin 7.5, Ball 7: Sun 6.5 (Miller 6) Ireland 6, Barton 7, Hamann 7 (Dabo 6): Mpenza 7, Vassell 6.5 (Samaras 6)