Fantastic Fernando fells City

[BlueLion. 21,491]

Fernando Torres was once again the match-winner, as José Mourinho's side sealed a late, great win over title rivals Manchester City.

Set against the background of Great Britain's most fearsome storms in many a year, it was Chelsea who emerged the victors of this tempestuous title bout between the two sides many fancy to lift the Premier League crown come May, thanks to a 90th-minute winner from the wonderful Fernando Torres.

Fresh from his Schalke-slaying European exploits in midweek, the Spaniard was once again the key man as Mourinho side dug in deep to grind out the sort of result necessary when in contention to lift the title. Having set up the opener on the half-hour after a brilliant run - in between missing an absolute sitter and then crashing a magnificent drive off the bar - the £50 million man sealed an evening to remember when he capitalised on a defensive mishap to poke home a last-gap winner.

In a game where both sides enjoyed periods of dominance, it was the home side that showed the greater grit and determination. Whilst Manuel Pellegrini set his side up not to lose, the onus was on Mourinho's side to take the game to their opponents and their undoubted quality to send a message out to the rest of the Premier League.

Whilst the Blues have contested valiantly in clashes away from home against the likes of champions Manchester United, Tottenham and Everton, their efforts have produced a mere two points from fixtures against the league's top sides. A result here, then, was as important in terms of keeping pace with Arsenal at the top of the table as it was to show that Mourinho's charges have the quality to defeat their rivals.

And whilst City did excel at times, they seemed to lack in moments of genuine quality. Whilst the talismanic Yaya Toure was at his tenacious best, City did little more than show glimpses of their collective talent. It seemed as if City's threat is constantly impending; their flair players remained dangerous without ever truly testing Petr Cech.

In truth, neither goalkeeper was particularly busy. With the scores level at 1-1, both sides enjoyed fair spells of momentum; one side would try and press the initiative whilst the other sat back and protected what they already had. Yet neither team particularly attempted to force the issue - and that is where the effervescent Torres was able to steal the show.

Having missed a glorious chance to score early on - beating the offside trap, the Spaniard brought a long ball down, only to be deceived by the bounce as he hacked over with just Joe Hart to beat - Torres sparked into life, and his brilliant, driving run down City's left fashioned an easy finish for Andre Schurrle with 33 minutes gone.

Picking the ball up, Torres ghosted past Gael Clichy effortlessly, before gliding into the box and threading the perfect pass between the goalkeeper and the centre-backs. Schurrle did the rest by converting from all of four yards out; but the Germany international acknowledged the fact that the goal belonged as much to Torres as it did to himself.

With captain Vincent Kompany absent through injury City were looking a little susceptible to Chelsea's pace-laden forward line, and Torres might have doubled the lead following yet more magnificent aggressive and direct play.

Turning on the half-way line, the Spaniard surged forward with a remarkable burst of pace, stopping only when confronted by three City defenders inside the box. Unperturbed, he turned and spanked a raking effort plumb against the woodwork with Hart duly beaten. Over on the touchline, José Mourinho cursed aloud, bemoaning Torres' luck - what must the Spaniard do to break his Premier League duck?!

Yet City began to rally, and four minutes before the interval Cech had to be alert to push away Aguero's drive at the near post - though he was motionless as the Argentine restored parity minutes after the restart.

A fifth goal in four games for the former Atletico Madrid man came when Nasri played him in beyond the exposed Gary Cahill, and his emphatic finish caught Cech by surprise. It was a fine finish, but Cech - on a day where he equalled Dennis Wise's tally of 445 Chelsea matches to move up to sixth on our all-time appearances list - will feel disappointed to have been caught so off-guard.

He did better moments later to deny first Javi Garcia's header and a David Silva effort which he stopped with his legs. At the other end Ramires thumped a strike just over the bar from 25 yards, and a free-kick from substitute Willian evaded everyone in the box when all it needed was the slightest glance as the Blues finished the stronger of the two sides.

Yet as the game rolled towards a merely satisfactory conclusion, Torres capitalised on severe City indecision to blow the title race wide open. A lofted clearance from Willian - more likely intended to relieve the late City pressure on the Chelsea goal than act as a through-ball to the wily Torres - was the source of confusion as the hapless Joe Hart made an absolute mess of Nastastic's header, allowing Torres to poke home into an unguarded net.

Cue pandemonium at the Bridge. Mourinho jumped into the crowd to celebrate as the stadium erupted into a vociferous cacophony of noise as the Blues moved within two points of Arsenal, the early pace-setters. Next is the little matter of facing the Gunners at the Emirates in the League Cup - perhaps Mourinho's men can inflict a psychological blow with a defeat of Arsene Wenger's side?

[Stingray 9,441]

Nice!

I do hope he is back.