A match between the top two teams in England at the moment. Chelsea are currently leading the league, while Manchester City, last year’s champions, sit in second place.

For Chelsea, a win could take them to eight points clear, a gap that they had managed to build over Manchester City not too long ago. Unfortunately for Chelsea and Mourinho, both Fabregas and Diego Costa were forced to watch the match from the sidelines. In their place, Loic Remy started up top while Ramires took Fabregas’ place in midfield.

Manuel Pellegrini was able to field just about the strongest XI he could, with the absence of Yaya Toure, who is still away on international duty with Ivory Coast as the African Cup of nations. Interestingly, Bacary Sagna was chosen ahead of Zabaleta.

Matic and Ramires Nullify Silva

Chelsea were very content with Manchester City having the ball, especially with both Matic and Ramires in the side. Mourinho was able have a strong spine through the centre of his team, perhaps something that Fabregas would not have added to had he been able to feature. With both Ramires and Matic in the side, it was far easier for Chelsea to contain David Silva, Manchester City’s most creative player. The two holding midfielders, in Chelsea’s 4-2-3-1, were able to track Silva’s movement as he went looking for space just outside of the Chelsea penalty area. When Silva moved left, Ramires found and followed the Spaniard; when he moved to the right, Matic did the same.

In order to find space, Silva began checking into midfield, closer to Fernando and Fernandinho. When he did this, it was almost always Ramires that would follow him and apply pressure, not allowing him to turn, and forcing him to play the ball back. This allowed Matic to remain free, step into the passing lanes to Agüero, and help the full backs with any balls that went out wide. Overall, Silva was very limited in his influence. Yes, he got the most important touch for Manchester CIty as he turned in Agüero’s effort, but Silva was largely forced to play out wide and link up with Navas and Milner rather than Agüero, who had played just two passes to, both around the halfway line.

Matic and Hazard

As mentioned above, Matic did an excellent job working with Ramires to keep Silva under wraps. He broke up Manchester City’s play incredibly well throughout the match and while the Silva’s lack of influence through the centre of the pitch forced Manchester City into the wide areas, Matic did an excellent job of moving wide to help Ivanovic, who had a relatively poor match, and Azpilicueta, who needed Matic’s presence with Navas’ growing influence on the match. Matic was constantly there to cover his full backs in the wide areas and was able to prevent Manchester City’s counter attacks and his contributions going forward were as equally influential.

With both Fernando and Fernandinho pushing forward when Manchester City were in possession and when they were pressing to win the ball back high up the pitch, Matic was able to get past Manchester City’s initial press and break the lines to launch many of Chelsea’s counter attacks. He also made a number of runs beyond Remy early on when the French striker seemed to be dropping too deep to give Chelsea an option going forward. The Serbian is not meant to be Chelsea’s influential figure going forward, but for much of the first half, in particular, when the likes of Oscar and Hazard were quiet, Matic was dynamic and pushed Chelsea forward.

As the game went on, however, the Serbian’s focus became more defensive. With the halftime score at 1-1, Mourinho was certainly content with a draw and surely instructed Matic to maintain a more disciplined approach to his play and sit back to continue breaking up Manchester City’s attacks. As Matic’s attacking influence waned, Hazard’s became increasingly more noticeable. The Chelsea number 10 played an excellent ball from a wide position into Remy’s path for the opening goal of the match, but as the match went on his best bits of play came when he drifted inside and received the ball in central areas as he looked to pull the strings. Hazard, more than Oscar, was able to exploit the spaces that Fernando and Fernandinho continually leave open when they push forward in unison (v. Arsenal, v. Everton). Perhaps the best example of this was when Fernando was finally booked for another poorly timed, recovering tackle that he was forced into making because of his positioning.

Navas, Pellegrini’s Changes

As the second half went on, Navas’ influence on the match began to grow more and more and he was able to get by Azpilicueta with his pace and skill far too many times. Matic was able to help provide cover for Azpilicueta, with Hazard maintaining a high position, but even the Serbian’s covering position was unable to limit Navas’ run over Azpilicueta. The Spaniard was able to create chances for Milner and Fernandinho, with the latter having the better of the two chances, but headed the ball into the the ground before Courtois tipped it over. Unfortunately, for Manchester City, Navas’ delivery into the box was inconsistent and was relatively poor considering the chances he had to deliver.

Perhaps it was in response to Navas’ growing influence that Pellegrini brought on both Lampard and Dzeko (though looking at the bench, they were arguably the best options). With Navas looking to get crosses in, Dzeko, introduced with about ten minutes to play, gave the Spaniard a good target to aim for and gave Manchester City a significant aerial threat in the penalty area, which they hadn’t had up until that point. Lampard’s introduction, earlier on in the half, gave Manchester City a player with an instinct for getting onto pull backs and the second ball from a poorly cleared cross or a knock down from Dzeko. As it happened, neither had an attempt on goal and Navas’ crossing and decision making was poor at times.

Conclusion

Chelsea were unable to record a shot following their 41st minute goal as Mourinho had his side sit back and protect their lead and ultimately the draw. It was certainly a better result for Chelsea than Manchester City as the London side stay five points clear of the current champions. Manchester City will be pleased that they were able to draw level in such a short amount of time, but will be disappointed that they were unable to get more out of the game considering how they controlled the match in the second half.