1. It’s advantage Chelsea in the title race
Jose Mourinho may have been tense throughout the game and cancelled his media duties but he was a happier manager than Pellegrini after the final whistle. City clearly shaded the contest as the Blues only managed three shots, their lowest at home since 2003/04, and none in the second-half.
The Special One paid more attention to his team’s defensive side as he spent the entire game on the touchline fighting for virtually every decision, reminding his holding midfielders and defenders to keep their defensive discipline and keeping his team fired up to ensure at any cost that they would not lose.
A win would have been welcome for Chelsea but this draw was a better result for them than for Pellegrini’s men as Chelsea maintained their five-point advantage on top of the table with the most difficult away trips this season to the Etihad Stadium and Old Trafford out of the way.
2. Sergio Aguero’s performance was the biggest positive for City
Manchester City may feel slightly disappointed that they failed to claw back Chelsea’s advantage but they will be glad that their main cutting edge – Aguero – is progressing well. The Argentine was clearly rusty in the defeats to Arsenal and Middlesbrough but that is to be expected as he usually needs a couple of games after returning from injury to hit his top form.
He was much better at Stamford Bridge as his shots with both feet were much more potent and his runs were sharper again. The rapid Kurt Zouma deserves a lot of credit for the way he handled the Argentine but evidence from this game suggests that Aguero is nearing his best again.
3. Bacary Sagna is Manuel Pellegrini’s go-to guy when facing top class wingers
Pellegrini dropped Pablo Zabaleta again in a game in which City faced a top dribbler in Eden Hazard. The Argentine full-back remains City’s best right-back but his non-inclusion is not surprising given that Pellegrini dropped him in the four times that City faced the threat of Franck Ribery when they clashed with Bayern Munich in the Champions league.
This time the Chilean boss finally revealed in his pre-match interview that Sagna is a better man-marker and while the French full-back was culpable for Chelsea’s goal because of his poor body positioning which allowed Hazard to receive the ball on his blind side, he defended well in one-on-one situations.
4. This game showed why Cesc Fabregas and Nemanja Matic are arguably the most important players for Chelsea
The headline absentee prior to this game was Diego Costa because the Spanish forward offers both pace and physical presence. In his absence, Chelsea have Didier Drogba who is powerful enough to offer a target up top but now lacks the pace to run in behind and Loic Remy who has pace but lacks the physical presence.
The Blues missed Fabregas more than Costa because Remy provided the threat in behind City’s defence that suited Chelsea’s conservative approach. Mourinho’s men fared badly though without Fabregas as they were out-fought in the middle of the park, with City controlling the proceedings.
Matic’s value to the Blues was already highlighted when he missed the defeats at Newcastle and recently against Bradford City. This top-of-the-table clash showed that Fabregas is also invaluable to Mourinho’s side as they were clearly under par without him.
5. Pointed chants at Jamie Redknapp showed how the siege mentality has spread at Chelsea
Mourinho usually turns to this us-against-the-world behaviour when he feels wronged and it was not a surprise that he and his staff were not willing to attend to the media after Costa’s ban but this time some Chelsea fans joined their manager.
Jamie Redknapp, the pantomime villain for what is perceived as his contribution to Costa’s ban, was at the receiving end of some nasty songs from the Chelsea fans in the Matthew Harding Stand as soon as they noted his presence in the Sky Sports studio.
