A good result from Chelsea and something they would have taken, but probably not something they would have taken with 10 minutes left and playing 10 men.
I felt the game was actually very worrying for a Chelsea point of view. Criticise David Luiz all you like, but he has a very high ceiling. He is not the sort of guy t win you a league title, but he can definitely put in world class performances whether at the back or in midfield. Terry and Cahill are as good as they come when they are sitting in front of a defensive formation defending crosses, but when they lose that protection they are exposed. Not so much Cahill, who is very good but definitely Terry.
Diego Costa had a decent game considering he was up against Kompany and Mangala on top form, both of whom were brilliant. However, the attacking players were poor. Willian gave nothing except for his work rate repeatedly giving the ball away and Ramires was not much better on the right. Hazard was okay, but not at the level you would expect. Schurrle did come on and give them more penetration and got the goal. I know he was at fault for the goal, but so was Matic for not tracking Lampard. The biggest disappointment if Fabregas. He is fantastic at supplying the final ball, but he does not quite dictate games the way that Schweinsteiger, Toure, Scholes Xavi etc can. He did not do enough for me and it meant Chelsea were completely dominated in midfield. This is particularly disappointing considering what Lahm, Alonso and Alaba did against the same midfield.
Still despite City being by far the better team in this match, I think ultimately it makes me believe Chelsea will win the league, but not the CL. There new quality attacking and especially Fabregas will be god enough to beat the also rans in the league, but not strong enough for the elite teams.
