Chelsea and Manchester City drew 1-1 in their top-of-the-table Premier League clash at Stamford Bridge on Saturday, leaving Jose Mourinho’s team five points clear of City, but with the champions still believing they can retain their title.
Chelsea’s run of 10 straight home league wins came to an end when David Silva canceled out Loic Remy’s opener just before half-time. There were no further goals, and very few on-target attempts in the second half, which City edged in terms of possession.
Chelsea lost 4-2 at home in the FA Cup on Saturday last week to third-tier Bradford City, but bounced back with a 1-0 win over Liverpool in the League Cup semi-final on Tuesday.
City, also beaten at home last week in the FA Cup by lower league opponents, Middlesbrough, were still too tough an obstacle and Chelsea managed only three shots, their lowest total in a game since the 2003-2004 season.
The result left Chelsea top on 53 points, five ahead of City on 48 with Manchester United, 3-1 winners over Leicester City at Old Trafford, third on 43.
Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool maintained their challenges for a top four finish with Spurs winning 3-0 at West Bromwich Albion to move up to fifth on 40.
Liverpool are seventh on 38 after beating West Ham United 2-0 at Anfield where Daniel Sturridge scored on his return after five months out with various injuries.
If Chelsea had beaten City they would have opened up an eight point gap with 15 matches to play.
City boss Manuel Pellegrini thought his men should have won.
“We played a very good game. One team wanted to play from the beginning. The only chance Chelsea got they scored a beautiful goal. In the second half Chelsea defended very well, but I am very proud about our team — to have the personality to come here and try to win from first minute to end.”
There was a memorable moment 14 minutes from time when Frank Lampard, who played nearly 650 times for Chelsea over 13 years and is their all-time leading scorer, came on for City to a mainly warm reception from his former fans.
In September at the Etihad he came on and scored City’s late equalizer in a 1-1 draw, but that did not happen again as the game petered out.
“It was a bit of a strange day to be honest, but I enjoyed it. The result changes nothing, but I was pleased to have an ovation at the end and share that with the Chelsea fans because I didn’t get that at the back end of last year,” Lampard said.
In other results, it was:
‧ Crystal Palace 0, Everton 1
‧ Hull 0, Newcastle 3
‧ Stoke 3, QPR 1
‧ Sunderland 2, Burnley 0
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