Manchester City ended Chelsea’s 100 percent start to the season Saturday with a hard-fought 1-0 win over the English Premier League champion.
Carlos Tevez maintained his fine recent record against Chelsea with the only goal of the game just before the hour mark.
The Argentine ace, who scored in both games against Carlo Ancelotti’s team last term, picked up a pass from Yaya Toure just inside the City half and ran unchallenged against a retreating Chelsea defense before firing a low shot through Ashley Cole’s legs in off the inside of the post.
In a game of few chances the closest Chelsea came to scoring was when Branislav Ivanovic struck the woodwork in the first half.
It was slightly strange that the build-up to a game between the Premier League’s biggest spenders should be centered around respective injury problems.
Yet that is exactly how it turned out, Ancelotti claiming he had just 12 fit players, which was one more than Mancini.
Defensively, City is struggling with neither Joleon Lescott nor Jerome Boateng — who did make his debut as a late substitute — considered fit enough to start.
And once Wayne Bridge had failed a pre-game fitness test on a thigh injury it was anticipated would keep him out for another two weeks anyway, Mancini went for 19-year-old Belgian Dedryck Boyata, normally a center-half, to make only his fourth league appearance.
Boyata rewarded his manager with a solid contribution to an obdurate defensive performance from City.
Only once were the hosts opened up properly, and that had nothing to do with the teenager.
In fact it was Tevez who drifted away from Florent Malouda as he anticipated a return pass to Didier Drogba, who had just taken a corner on the Chelsea left.
Tevez’s movement gave Malouda the space to curl a deep cross to the far post, where Alex nodded it back to Ivanovic.
The Serbian had two attempts at putting Chelsea in front. The first came bouncing back off the bar, giving him a second header to go for, this time Joe Hart making a comfortable save.
Apart from that, both goalmouths were largely underused.
