Carlos Tevez fires Manchester City to victory over leaders Chelsea

Unstoppable in their opening five matches, Chelsea failed their first major test of the Premier League season on Saturday as Carlos Tevez’s goal gave Manchester City a 1-0 win over the champions at Eastlands. The Argentine scored three times in City’s league double over Chelsea last season and he again proved a thorn in the side of the London club with a pinpoint shot after 59 minutes to earn his side a victory that will bolster their own title claims.

Arsenal could not capitalise on defeat for their London rivals, however, as they surprisingly went down 2-3 at home to West Bromwich Albion despite two late goals from Samir Nasri.
Chelsea, who failed to score in the league for the first time since last December, are top with 15 points but Manchester United can cut the gap to a point if they beat Bolton Wanderers on Sunday. Arsenal and City have 11 with West Brom fifth on 10.

Everton slumped to the foot of the table after a 0-0 stalemate at Fulham while the gloom at Anfield deepened as Liverpool drew 2-2 at home to Sunderland.

After the match fans staged a sit-down protest against the club’s American owners.

West Ham United moved off the bottom with their first victory of the season, beating visiting London rivals Tottenham Hotspur 1-0. Blackpool lost 2-1 at home to Blackburn Rovers while Birmingham City versus Wigan Athletic ended scoreless.

Defeat would have left Roberto Mancini’s expensively assembled team 10 points adrift of Chelsea but they have now cut the gap
to four.

Mancini suggested on Friday that Chelsea’s title defence would be a stroll, but City stifled a Chelsea attack that had scored 21 goals in a perfect five-match start to the season and in Tevez had a player capable of snatching victory in a match where
clear chances were few and far between.

Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti was critical of his side’s performance and had no complaints about a loss that followed hot on the heels of Wednesday’s League Cup defeat by Newcastle.

“We didn’t play how we wanted,” the Italian told Sky Sports. “We were not able to use our quality and were too complicated. City performed well in midfield and won a lot of tackles and they
deserved to win.”

City rarely threatened in the first half with Tevez a peripheral figure. Chelsea were the more fluent side and went closest before the break when defender Branislav Ivanovic headed against the woodwork and then saw his follow-up effort saved by Joe Hart. Immediately after the break Nicolas Anelka forced a fine low save by Hart while at the other end David Silva forced a rare save by Petr Cech with a first-time shot from a tight angle.

City’s winner came completely out of the blue. There seemed no danger when Yaya Toure passed to Tevez inside his own half but the Argentine was allowed to run unimpeded towards the Chelsea area before jinking right and lashing a shot through the legs of Ashley Cole and beyond Cech’s despairing dive.

It was only the second goal that Chelsea had conceded in the league this season and their response was less than convincing, especially after a disgruntled Didier Drogba was substituted.

Arsenal had not lost at home to West Brom for 27 years but found themselves 3-0 down as the visitors, who also missed a first-half penalty at 0-0, scored through Peter Odemwingie, Gonzalo Jara and former Gunners player Jerome Thomas.

All the goals came after the break with Nasri giving Arsenal hope of a late escape but West Brom held on for the win.

“We were poor and deserved to lose because we were not up for it, quality wise or concentration (wise),” Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger told Sky Sports. “Not one of the players was at his normal level. We made mistake after mistake defensively.”