David Silva inspired Manchester City to a 2-0 victory over Chelsea. The Spaniard created nine chances which included two assists as Manchester City cut the gap back to twelve points. Both sides were seemingly playing for second spot in the Premier League but it seems Manchester City will fight until to the end to get as close as possible to their rivals at Old Trafford.
Chelsea had a chance to take the lead at The Etihad when Joe Hart was adjudged to bring down Demba Ba. The penalty seemed a little harsh at the time however Joe Hart made a magnificent save from Frank Lampard’s penalty – had Lampard scored it would have been his 200th goal for Chelsea.
Looking at the stats from our Stats Centre (powered by Opta) below Chelsea enjoyed more possession but allowed Manchester City to attempt 10 shots from inside their penalty area whilst only attempting 3 in Manchester City’s penalty area. It was a game that didn’t have many clear chances created, the stats below show only three and the first half was pretty forgettable.
The penalty miss seemed to spark life into the game and after Hart’s save Yaya Toure put City in front. Carlos Tevez then came from the bench to score a belter from outside the box.
Comparing the two Spaniards (image above) Silva and Mata it was Silva’s day today. He created nine chances and created two goals whilst Mata created two chances. Neither really had many shots but were on the ball enough with over fifty passes each and Silva was impressive with a pass accuracy of 91%.
[box_light]
EPLIndex Opinion
Manchester City need to keep winning and hope that United suffer a few losses to have any chance of getting close or making a race of this title. Chelsea’s struggles under Rafa Benitez continue and they may be dragged into a race for the Champions League spots and they cannot afford to lose many more points this season. The race for the European spots  as well as the relegation battle may be the only excitement left for this season’s Premier League.
[/box_light]
