Super Sunday was expected to throw us a cracker and boy did the match live up to its expectations. Two managers, one of whom alien to the conditions and meeting in unfamiliar territories meant it would be a fan’s delight. While the match did live up to the expectations as we saw some mesmerizing football, dazzling displays on a glittering evening at the Stamford Bridge in late October, Chelsea edged Manchester City by the thinnest of margins as they scraped past the Citizens by 2-1. Fernando Torres racked up the winning goal deep into extra time after a defensive howler albeit Matija Nastasic who headed the ball beyond the on rushing Joe Hart and Torres flicked it away much to the delight of the Stamford Bridge faithful.
The match was quite cagey in the beginning with neither side wanting to hand over the initiative to the other team. It was quite surprising to see Pellegrini who always prefers to play with two strikers up front, playing an extra holding midfielder in Javi Garcia. This meant Yaya Toure was provided with a more advanced role but City were also playing very narrow as Nasri and Silva were playing on two sides with Aguero up front, who was mostly isolated in the first half. This provided the initiative to Chelsea whenever the wingbacks in Ivanovic or Cole getting the ball up front, pushed and hassled the City defence.
The player still lurks in Fernando Torres what he used to be: As virtually time stood still, Torres got on one with Joe Hart and blasted the ball past the goal when it seemed tougher to miss. He made up for it when he produced a sublime assist for Schurrle as he paced down the wings to provide a delicious ball for the German. 1-0 at the Bridge and the home fans were in the thick of things. Two minutes later, Torres got the better of Demichelis and rattled his pile driver against the cross bar.
It was a wonderful start to the second half by the Blues from Manchester as Aguero blasted the equaliser with a wonder strike from outside the penalty area. City were by far the better team in the second period but they failed to capitalize. Pellegrini did try to change the system by bringing on Navas to have more width on the pitch but Chelsea held on. For my liking, he should have replaced Garcia bringing on Negredo to give the Chelsea defence something more to think about and Silva should have played in the pocket pushing Nasri on the left.
As for Chelsea, they managed to get the full three points when Nastasic headed the ball past the on rushing Joe Hart and Torres provided the silver lining on which might be a huge win come at the end of the season. Fernando Torres’ confidence seems to be back with Chelsea looking like a well oiled machine, the season might just live up to expectations. For City, it was a cruel blow, but that’s how Football is, you win some, you lose some.