Manchester City - 0 Chelsea - 1: For long, uneasy spells even a man of Jose Mourinho's seemingly impregnable self-belief must have wondered whether he was about to suffer an uncomfortable sense of deja vu.
Manchester City were a pebble in Mourinho's loafer last season and Chelsea, missing Frank Lampard, had not managed a shot on target as the game swung into its final quarter-hour. Then, out of nowhere, Joe Cole struck and Mourinho sprinted down the touchline in his expensive suit.
It was a goal that could be pivotal in the title race.
The news of Birmingham City's equaliser against Manchester United had come through only a couple of minutes earlier and Chelsea have stretched their lead at the top of the Premiership to 11 points.
That they did it without Frank Lampard was testament to their obduracy on an evening when Mourinho did not even have a place for Shaun Wright-Phillips, formerly of Manchester City, among his substitutes.
The Premiership has waited a long time to discover how Chelsea would cope without a player Alex Ferguson has described as a "freak" because of his apparent immunity to fatigue.
Ferguson himself has floated the idea that Chelsea's season could be derailed if Lampard's good fortune with injuries were to run out, and for long spells of an occasionally disappointing game there was certainly evidence that they missed such a vital cog in their machine.
They made a sluggish start, lacking the usual fluency and penetration and with Lampard's replacement, Eidur Gudjohnsen, struggling to exert any kind of influence. City have provided robust opponents for Mourinho and on a night when even Stuart Pearce must have been tempted to wear gloves (he didn't) this was no different.
They threw themselves into every tackle, ran for every ball and matched their opponents for prolonged periods.
Chelsea were entitled to simmer over a crucial incident after 25 minutes when the game could have turned their way.
Certainly Mourinho, never one to miss a perceived wrong, was entitled to argue they were hard done by when Sylvain Distin misjudged the trajectory of John Terry's long ball and allowed Didier Drogba a yard of space inside the penalty area.
As Drogba turned towards goal he was caught by David James and tumbled theatrically to the floor.
It should have been a penalty and Mourinho's annoyance with Uriah Rennie could be gauged by his outstretched arms and astonished gape as he stalked the touchline. Yet Drogba lost any sympathy with his exaggerated fall and the subsequent histrionics as he writhed in apparent pain before hobbling away for treatment. The Ivory Coast international made a full recovery within minutes.
Thereafter Drogba took the pantomime-villain role that had been vacated by Wright-Phillips, his every touch booed and whistled, and there was more irritation etched across his face when he wasted Chelsea's solitary chance of the opening 45 minutes. It had been an uninspiring period, with City managing only one opportunity themselves, a Barton shot that was blocked by Petr Cech's feet.
Chelsea's methodical build-up will certainly have done little to distress Barcelona scouts in the VIP seats with February's Champions League ties on their mind. They began the second half exactly as they had finished the first and after 58 minutes Mourinho had finally seen enough, replacing Drogba and the ineffectual Damien Duff with Hernan Crespo and Arjen Robben.
It was a bold move that suggested Mourinho was becoming increasingly concerned about their lack of incisive forward thrusts.
More than that, it was a compliment to Pearce, who had set up his team in a new 4-2-3-1 formation.
It was a ploy designed to nullify their opponents and it worked until the 79th minute. Robben instigated the move and when David James palmed away Gudjohnsen's deflected shot the ball spun out of Crespo's reach but fell invitingly for Cole to score his sixth goal of the season.
Guardian Service
MANCHESTER CITY: James, Onuoha, Dunne, Distin, Thatcher (Ireland 89), Sinclair (Croft 82), Jihai, Barton, Vassell, Cole, Sibierski (Wright-Phillips 71). Subs not used: Sommeil, De Vlieger. Booked: Thatcher.
CHELSEA: Cech, Geremi, Gallas, Terry, Del Horno, Makelele, Gudjohnsen (Paulo Ferreira 83), Essien, Joe Cole, Drogba (Crespo 58), Duff (Robben 58). Subs not used: Cudicini, Huth. Booked: Del Horno. Goals: Joe Cole 79.
Referee:
U Rennie (S Yorkshire).
