Why the party could be over for Manchester City now Chelsea have punctured their aura of impregnability

By Martin Lipton in Mirror Football Blog

Published 22:30 13/12/11

It's not how you start that matters. It’s how you finish.

And as Roberto Mancini and his Manchester City players picked themselves up, brushed themselves down and tried to enjoy their Christmas bash on Monday night, the big issue is whether they can start all over again.

Want to see what Mario Balotelli went to City's fancy-dress Christmas bash as? Course you do

A season of remorseless success was always going to encounter a blip at some stage, although as City pinged the ball around Stamford Bridge at will in the opening minutes, the possibility of at least coming close to their runaway wins at White Hart Lane and Old Trafford looked more than realistic.

By the time Frank Lampard thrashed Chelsea's late winner past Joe Hart from the penalty spot, though, Mancini’s depleted ranks looked like tattered troops rather than a rampaging army.

Having looked like opening a 13-point advantage over Chelsea and going five clear of the pack, City must now expect to be in second spot, behind Manchester United, by the time they kick off against Arsenal at Eastlands on Sunday.

With Arsene Wenger and the Gunners having a point to prove in Manchester - and not only to Samir Nasri - after their eight-goal humiliation on their last visit to the city, City’s potential moment of doubt has arrived when they could have least expected it.

Exit from the Champions League - admittedly, one overshadowed by United catastrophic brush with Basel - was followed by a first Premier League defeat of the season.

Also, the club's third red card in six matches leaves Mancini hopeful Micah Richards recovers fitness by the weekend, allowing him to switch Pablo Zabaleta to left-back.

After previously carrying all before them, City now have to demonstrate they can respond to their first genuine case of adversity this season, in the wake of what their midfielder James Milner confessed was a defeat that left the dressing room “devastated”.

Just like his Chelsea counterpart Andre Villas-Boas last week, Mancini will not have taken too kindly to Gary Neville’s Sky assertion that the title race was now “in United’s hands” - not with 23 games to go and City still actually top of the pile and with a staggeringly better goal difference up their sleeve.

Yet statistics illustrate that bright openings do not always lead to glory when it matters the following May - and City are now under pressure.

Milner conceded: “It was a disappointing game. We started pretty well and were on top and should probably scored a few more when we were on top, because we had the chances.

“But we took our foot off the gas - for whatever reason - and that gave them a foothold and got the crowd up. They managed to ride that wave.

“Of course it’s always going to be tough when you’re down to 10 men at Chelsea. We felt their penalty was a harsh one, but it was given so we have to move on.”

What is always the key after any setback is the reaction, as the Chelsea players who celebrated - to City’s annoyance - both on the pitch and in the tunnel at the end of the game could tell them.

Remember, Chelsea were five points clear of the pack after 10 games last term, but a terrible run of results left them nine adrift of United and in fifth place by the first week of January.

Two years earlier, Big Phil Scolari’s Chelsea also flew out of the blocks, only for a calamitous stumble to see the Brazilian ejected after seven months.

And there have been plenty of other examples (see below) of Icarus Syndrome - clubs flying too close to the sun and unable to cope with the heat.

No such fate awaits Mancini, surely, but the Italian accepts that City must shown courage under the renewed inquisition.

“I think we are strong enough for the next game,” he said. “And I hope we can do another 14 games without defeat.

“December and January will be crucial months for us and it was important not to lose this game. The season is very long, and all the teams can play for the title - Chelsea, Arsenal - that hasn’t changed.”

What might have done, though, is City’s aura of impregnability, which underpinned the Chelsea post-match response.

Asked to comment on the shenanigans sparked by Ashley Cole’s tunnel gibe, Milner replied: “We will just concentrate on ourselves.

“Obviously we are disappointed. We wanted to go there and get a positive result, especially when we went 1-0 up.

“But it is in the past now. We need to learn going forward, take the positives out of the game and show the hunger to go and win again at the weekend.

"We have to pick ourselves up for another massive game.”

Bigger, even, than it was 48 hours ago.

The acid test of City’s nerve.

***

STATISTICS, DAMNED STATISTICS AND... THE TRUTH

2010-11 Chelsea

P10 W8 D1 L1 Pts 25

Position: First, five points clear

Finished: Second

2008-09 Chelsea

P8 W6 D2 L0 Pts 20

Position: 1st, above Liverpool on goal difference