It seemed the Mike Dean, by wrongly sending off Pablo Zabaleta, ruined the match between Chelsea and Manchester City, as Andre Schurrle took advantage of that decision to give the visitors the lead. But Frank Lampard, coming off the bench, equalized with 10 men and possibly saved this season from being over before the end of September.
Chelsea, as expected, like in all big away matches under Jose Mourinho, parked the bus. Manchester City were the only ones trying to create chances but struggling against a very organized defense and midfield, while Chelsea had just one chance during the first 70 minutes, until Dean, who had a terrible outing from top to bottom, decided to help them out.
Dean was easy on the trigger in the first half but somewhat leaned towards Chelsea when it was time to favor someone with his decisions. When Zabaleta fouled Diego Costa, the two got in something of a tangle. For some reason, Dean decided Zabaleta deserved a second yellow card and sent the Argentine right back away from the pitch while Costa, who has managed to avoid a red card or two so far this season, walked away with nothing.
Schurrle came off the bench a minute earlier and was on the right end of a brilliant counter attack, staying just out of reach for the defense while Eden Hazard assisted him with a clever cross from the right wing that no one could reach.
Lampard came on for Kolarov to try and save the day, but Chelsea almost finished the match as Diego Costa hit the post in the 80th minute. At that point Chelsea gave up on trying to score, which cost them dearly.
James Milner was wide open to connect with a David Silva chip into the box, needing one touch to pass it along to Frank Lampard, who didn’t celebrate, but scored the most important goal of the season so far, as Chelsea lose points for the first time in this campaign after four wins.
