Frank Lampard denied former club Chelsea a victory over Manchester
City with a late equaliser in an entertaining 1-1 draw at the Etihad
Stadium.
Jose Mourinho's men looked set to repeat the 1-0 Barclays Premier
League victory they earned at City last season after Pablo Zabaleta
was sent off and Andre Schurrle netted from a brilliant
counter-attack. But substitute Lampard ensured the points were shared
between the two title contenders as he netted late on.
Lampard, who scored 208 goals in 626 matches for Chelsea before
departing in July, had his name sung by the visiting fans after his
introduction for Aleksandar Kolarov late in the second half. Those
tributes were soon replaced by silence, however, as the 36-year-old,
who is on loan at the Etihad Stadium from New York City, grabbed an
equaliser for the 10-man hosts. The goal ended Chelsea's 100% start to
the league season, and Mourinho will rue the missed opportunity to
have gone eight points clear of one of their rivals for the title.
Manuel Pellegrini took the surprise step of handing Eliaquim Mangala
his debut in place of Martin Demichelis as one of four changes from
Wednesday's defeat by Bayern Munich. Diego Costa's hamstrings held up
enough for him to lead Chelsea's line, bumping Didier Drogba back to
the bench after their UEFA Champions League draw with Schalke.
The Spain striker's first contribution to the contest was a
full-blooded battle with Vincent Kompany in which he came off second
best after Yaya Toure had forced the first save of the game out of
Thibaut Courtois.
Although Cesc Fabregas and Nemanja Matic's influence in midfield for
Chelsea increased, the visitors were unable to stem the flow of City
attacks and were fortunate to see Fernandinho fail to connect properly
with Kolarov's cut-back as well as Sergio Aguero half-volley an Edin
Dzeko knockdown over the crossbar. Neither side could find a
breakthrough before half-time, despite Aguero and Costa getting brief
glimpses at goal just prior to the break.
City picked up where they left off following the restart. Aguero
tested Courtois early on with a left-footed shot from the edge of the
box moments before just failing to control a cross into the box. The
Argentinian again was at the heart of things when his snapshot forced
another Courtois save as Ramires was on hand to clear the rebound with
Dzeko lurking.
City's hopes of making the most of the ascendancy received a
significant blow with just over an hour gone, as Zabaleta received a
red card after a clip of Costa's heels brought a second yellow card.
That forced Pellegrini into a reshuffle, with Dzeko making way for
Bacary Sagna but the addition of another defender could not prevent
Chelsea taking the lead. The visitors broke incisively from an
opposition corner before Costa played Eden Hazard into space on the
right and the Belgian sent in a delightful low cross that Schurrle
turned in at the back post.
Costa thumped a post from distance but the hosts responded to rescue
an unlikely point as Lampard, Chelsea's record goalscorer, turned home
James Milner's smartly volleyed cross from the left. Lampard refused
to celebrate, but then almost secured a winner. Nevertheless,
Chelsea's fine early progress was checked for the first time.
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