Man City rally to beat nine-man Chelsea 4-2

Feb 27, 2010 - 4:58 PM By NEIL RICHARDS STATS European Football Writer=

LONDON (SE) - Manchester City blew the Premier League title race wide open again as two goals each from Carlos Tevez and Craig Bellamy gave them a 4-2 win at Stamford Bridge and their first home-and-away double over nine-man Chelsea since 1957.

Wales striker Bellamy caught Chelsea on the counter-attack, bursting clear and outpacing John Obi Mikel before shooting home the visitors' second to put City on their way to ending the Blues' 24-game unbeaten home record in the Premier League.

Tevez set the seal on a stunning result and made sure of a winning return to Chelsea for Wayne Bridge by sweeping home a penalty 15 minutes from time after Gareth Barry had been brought down by Juliano Belletti, who was shown a red card for a professional foul.

Michael Ballack was also dismissed nine minutes from the end, collecting a second yellow card for scything down Tevez.

City exploited the gaps to bag a fourth, Bellamy tapping in at the far post after an unselfish ball from Shaun Wright-Phillips, like Bridge a former Chelsea player.

Carlo Ancelotti's side never gave up and netted again in injury time, Lampard scoring his second from the penalty spot after Barry had caught Nicolas Anelka.

Chelsea had looked on course to extend their advantage at the top to four points over Manchester United \2013 who play in Sunday's League Cup final - when Frank Lampard swept the ball home just before the break.

But City stunned the Stamford Bridge crowd by going in level, with Tevez profiting from a catalogue of errors by the Chelsea backline to net his 14th of the season in first-half stoppage time.

Much had been made before the kick-off of the first meeting between John Terry and Bridge since the Chelsea defender's affair with the ex-girlfriend of his former England team-mate.

City boss Roberto Mancini paid tribute to his defender, who performed admirably under the spotlight and despite being booed every time he touched the ball. He said: "Wayne Bridge played very well, he kept his concentration. The team today had a fantastic spirit and because of this we won the game."

This result should go some way to improving Bridge's mood, especially as there was no indication it was on the cards as City's sole intent seemed to be on keeping the home side at bay in a lacklustre first 40 minutes.

Unsurprisingly, it was Didier Drogba who looked the most likely to prise open City's watertight defence, and the Ivory Coast striker fired too high after Lampard's mis-hit shot had fallen kindly to him just ten yards out.

Anelka then carved out an opening after cutting in from the left and his shot looked goalbound until it hit Lampard in the back.

The goal arrived two minutes before the interval after Joe Cole collected the ball in space. Vincent Kompany chose to play offside instead of tracking Lampard's forward run and paid the price, as the England midfielder drove the ball home via the inside of the far post.

Lampard saw another goalbound shot blocked in first-half stoppage time, and instead of being two goals up at the break, Chelsea were stunned to go in level. Bridge hoofed the ball forward, Mikel failed to deal with the aerial ball and his misdirected header caught out Terry and Ricardo Carvalho. Tevez led the two Chelsea central defenders a merry dance, but after working his way into the area his tame shot somehow found its way past Hilario and into the net.

City almost grabbed a second just the interval, with Joleon Lescott barging Terry out of the way to clear the space to meet Bellamy's free-kick with a free header which went wide of the post. But the Welshman did put them in front early in the second half, profiting from Chelsea's defence being caught upfield to outpace Mikel and beat Hilario with a well-struck shot across the reserve goalkeeper who was standing in \2013 poorly - for the injured Petr Cech.

Lampard's 12th of the season meant little to him, nor to the Chelsea fans, many of whom had been streaming to the exits long before the final whistle, but boss Ancelotti had no excuses.

Ancelott said: "We have to look forward, I have confidence in this team, we are doing a very good season. In football it can happen that one day is no good, this was not a very good day for us.

We conceded a goal at the end of the first half with a mistake, we did a second mistake at the start of the second half and the game was more difficult for us, we lost balance."