GAME OF THE WEEK: CHELSEA LEGEND SNEAKS DRAW FOR MANCITY IN TITANIC BATTLE OF THE BLUES

Story written by Patrick Kamanga

GAME OF THE WEEK: CHELSEA LEGEND SNEAKS DRAW FOR MANCITY IN TITANIC BATTLE OF THE BLUES

Battle of the Blues, a rugged and uninspiring affair

In a tight, tense and foul laden battle between the two top EPL sides, defending Champions Manchester City and their main challengers Chelsea fought out to a one all draw at the Etihad Stadium. 

Coming after a disappointing showing in the Champions League earlier in week where the home side lost 1-0 away to Bayern Munich while Chelsea had to make a come back and force a one all draw at home to Schalke, this was bound to be a difficult game for either side. Ironically and inexplicably, though set out in an ultra-offensive 4-1-4-1 formation Chelsea seemed more intimidated by the occasion considering their recent rich vein of form but sat back deep for most of the game, content on preventing their rivals, who set out with what initially looked like a more defensive 4-4-2, to dictate the proceedings. 

With the game headed for a drab nil nil draw, a flurry of tackles from both sides gave the ref Mike Dean little choice but to dish out a handful of yellow cards as the match disintegrated into a wrestling contest. 

Zabaletta gets his marching orders for a clumsy tackle

Subsequently, a late flagrant tackle by right back Pablo Zabaleta on Diego Costa earned him a second yellow card and therefore a red card in the 68^th minute. A double change a  little earlier that saw an Andre Schurrle, Obi Mikel double substitution for the Brazilian pair of Ramires and Willian paid instant dividends with the extra player giving Chelsea the impetus to go forward. From a cleared corner, a lightning quick counter attack initiated by Hazard got five touches; Fabregas, to Costa, back to Hazard who whipped a wicked low cross beyond the retreating Man City defense for Schurrle to latch on and slide home beyond Joe Hart. 

Schurrle's brace put Chelsea momentary in front

With a one man advantage, Mourinho should have gone for the kill and brought in the pacy Loic Remy to aid Costa with City on the ropes and was made to rue his inaction. His opposite number, “El Ingeniero” Manuel Pelligrini quickly engineered a crafty comeback plot bringing in Bacary Sagna as defensive cover for Edin Dzeko, Jesus Navas for Fernandinho and former Chelsea icon and cult hero Frank Lampard for Kolarov to maintain shape and played out the rest of the game with a 4-4-1. Miraculously, the Sky Blues not only came back but kept making forays and took the fight into Chelsea's half.

Poor positioning and anticipation by Branislav Ivanovic in the 83rd minute afforded his former team mate Lampard the luxury of flicking a cross beyond a diving Courtouis in goal to bite the hand that fed him for so long. 

Hushed celebration, "prodigal son" Lampard came back to bite the hand that once fed him

A 1-1 draw is perhaps a fair result in this uninspiring display.

In an earlier match, the new look Manchester United and Coach Louis Van Gaal were given a painful reality check after they were brought crushing down back to earth by a resilient Leicester away at the King Power arena. After a going up 3-1 at the beginning of the second half, the Red Devils defensive fallibility was to haunt the Merseysiders when they surrendered a two goal cushion to crush out 5-3 and send the home crowd into pandemonium in an eight goal fiesta!

Radamel Falcao turned from deadly striker to provider when he shielded the ball from a Marcos Rojo’s pass on the left flank, swiveled past fullback Ritchie De Laet then chipped a beautiful cross that found Dutchman Robin Van Persie beyond the last defender and who duly smashed a header at the near post in the 13th minute. In a blistering five minutes of breathtaking football a two man run initiated by Angel Di Maria in the 16th minute, Wayne Rooney threaded back ball back into space and as the Leicester defense opened up in front of him like a flower in full blossom, Di Maria then spooned an audacious dink beyond the advancing Kasper Schmeichel for Man U’s second and a “goal of the season” contender!

Man U celebrate RVP's goal in first half

The pace and menacing attitude of Leicester’s Jamie Vardy was the key and catalyst for this victory. He proved a handful throughout and from a tee in the 17th minute, flicked the ball with his heel past Rojo then outran his marker and from a ball that seemed out of play, crossed to the waiting head of deadly Argentine striker and record signing Jose Ulloa (pronounced Uzoa) who smashed a bullet header past a rooted De Gea in goal to hand Leicester a lifeline.

Man U seemed in control of the match for most of the first half and even at the advent of the second when Anders Herrera back-heeled a deflected Di Maria shot past Schmeichel for a 3-1 score line in the 57th minute.

The Red Devil’s capitulation started with a silly foul by Brazilian full back Raphael, a hot head who retaliated in kind after a nudge by Vardy pulling him down in his own box giving referee Mark Clattenberg little choice but to award the home side a penalty. David Nuggent buried the resultant spot kick sending De Gea the wrong way to jump start the spectacular comeback. This goal seemed to galvanize and energize the home side that relentlessly swarmed forward like angry bees pinning back the Red Devils.

From another of his runs, Vardy set up new signing, veteran Argentine midfielder Esteban Cambiaso who made no mistake with a first time volley into the bottom corner of the net in the 64^th minute. 3-3! What a game!

Man of the match Vardy, gave a virtuoso performance

Leicester’s equalizer seemed to take the life and the fight out of the Red Devil’s and their game subsequently collapsed having no answers to the home side’s new found determination, who now smelled blood and like a pack of hounds in a fox hunt went right for the kill!

From a mix up between Mata who’d just come on for Falcao and Rojo in the middle of the park, De Laet set up Vardy who stole away with a blistering solo run and went all the way slicing the ball past a helpless De Gea to put the home sides’ noses in front for the first time.

In another piece of comical defending, Blackett retaliated from an earlier nudge by Vardy who sneaked away into the box with Blackett clumsily hacking him down for Leicester’s second penalty which Ulloa tucked in for his fifth goal of the season to send the home crowd into seventh heaven. As the last man, Blackett’s indiscipline and naivety only succeeded in earning him a straight red card and put his team in an impossible position.

A shell shocked Di Maria couldn't bail out the Red Devils

In a case of trying to fit square pegs in round holes, Man U’s expensively assembled side with so many good players brought in at once and LVG’s quandary with which system to play was the perfect storm of events that came together to give the Red Devils a torrid game they would rather quickly forget. Apart from a weak defense, another glaring problem that was brought forth in this defeat was Man U’s inability to play in transition, a quality that crippled their ability to both go forward as well as defend well. If the events witnessed are anything to go by this might be a very long season for the Red Devils.

Ozil gave an improved performance

In another interesting game pitting a top four contender against one of its bogey sides, Arsenal came to the Villa Park knowing only too well how difficult ties against Aston Villa have been for the last few seasons, a 3-0 hiding in last seasons’ opening game at the Emirates notwithstanding. After a tumultuous few weeks that saw the Gunners draw away to Leicester then surrender a lead against Manchester City at home and a near midweek meltdown away to Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League, Arsenal silenced their doubters with some scintillating football. In a magical four minute spell, like a big, bad, lethal automatic assault weapon with the safety lock on free and its trigger pressed with gusto, the Gunners emptied the magazine unleashing some rapid fire, high octane football not seen since the days of the magical trio of Henry, Bergkamp and Pires! 
When the dust settled and smoke cleared, the Clarinets were strewn on the turf, the home crowd silenced and the only noise heard, well came from the traveling horde of Gunner’s fans celebrating the 3-0 lead!

Even the misfiring German international and record signing Mesut Ozil was on top of his game scoring one and setting up another for new recruit Danny Welbeck who scored to open his account for the season and returned the favour to tee up Ozil. 

Overall, Arsenal played a discipline game even in defense, pressed hard and gave the home side little to work with and had most of the possession for most of the game, their best show so far.