Tevez comes out of cold to help restore order for Man City

Manchester City came into this potentially momentous clash fearful that their title challenge could be ruined by Chelsea sacking another manager. When Roman Abramovich sneezes, the rest of the Premier League can catch a cold.

The bounce produced by the oligarch's latest loss of patience had led to four straight Chelsea wins and so rendered it harder for City to recover from their defeat at Swansea. They wanted the old clique-ridden and sulky Chelsea. Instead they faced Fernando Torres after his escape from the goalscoring wilderness in a London side suddenly chirpy and cocksure.

Nowhere will you find a serious expert willing to dispute the theory that this season's Premier League lacks its usual razzle-dazzle. We are talking individual chemistry here, not determination or desire.

Arsenal fans reminisce about the Thierry Henry/Dennis Bergkamp days. Manchester United supporters remember a recent forward line of Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney and Carlos Tevez.

Of the biggest firms, only City and Spurs have advanced along the entertainment path this term. But Roberto Mancini's side can no longer worry about bouquets. The sideswipe in Swansea and United's relentless tenacity (and eye for goal) have turned this title race into a two-team, one-city contest in which Sir Alex Ferguson's men appeared in charge of doling out the pressure until City saw off Chelsea with two second-half goals.

With this victory they completed a Premier League record of 20 consecutive home wins. Only Liverpool (1972), Newcastle (1907) and Preston (1892) could match those numbers. They had scored in every league fixture stretching back to November, 2010: 26 games in all.

Four away defeats have been the only blemishes on an otherwise impressive domestic campaign that has mattered far more than the failed expeditions in Europe.

Yet here they were, four points behind United at the start of play, with a harder run-in, and Tevez drawing boos and cheers from the home crowd when his name was announced. Patrick Vieira, the City ambassador, described United's recall of Paul Scholes from retirement as a sign of "weakness". The stats for Scholes contradict that; and Old Trafford could fire the same accusation at City over the return of Tevez.

In both instance metropolitan rivals were merely maximising their resources to avoid having to leave the city for the whole summer to escape the other's bragging. Milanese intensity now suffuses this struggle between red and sky blue. Beyond the obvious needs to stay fit, and pull together, the final nine fixtures are a searching test of team selection and decision-making.

Handing Mario Balotelli a starting shirt in a game of this magnitude is the kind of gamble United never have to take. They possess no player of comparable rawness or introspection. Dimitar Berbatov, a much less moody type, thought he could spectate in games and was disabused of that notion by being moved to a new vantage point on the bench, or in the stands.

Balotelli still appears to think he can choose when to participate. He might get away with it in November, but not in March, when a revitalised Chelsea are in town and United have retaken the summit.

Capitalising on a Chelsea midfield error on 28 minutes, Balotelli surged 30 yards and was one-one-on with Petr Cech but pulled his shot wide. Mercurial Mario did not reappear after half-time, when Mancini elected to replace him with Gareth Barry and push Yaya Toure forward.

City have been at their most irresistible sweeping teams away with a free front four backed up by an impenetrable back six. In that system Vincent Kompany (missing here) has been the defensive Titan and Yaya Toure the locomotion through midfield. How unjust, then, that it was the younger Toure's heel that provided the deflection for Gary Cahill's weak 59th minute shot, and sent it looping past Joe Hart.

That shock to City's nerves prompted Tevez to obey the order to get ready, six months after it was first issued. Nigel de Jong, the house tackler, gave way; an example of a player who gives his all for the shirt being replaced by one who has filled his own boots without offering anything in return since the Bayern Munich game last autumn.

But the change was tactical, not symbolic, as City pursued parity in a game that was on course to transfer clear favouritism across town to United. "Come on Tevez, you owe us," grumbled one City fan. 'El Apache' bustled on, looking even stockier than usual, to join his Argentine countryman, Sergio Aguero, in a front-two that would surely be Mancini's best bet from now on if both are fit.

Mancini is committed to the great Balotelli project but surely he must suspend it now. Moments after Torres had left the pitch chuntering about being replaced by Didier Drogba, David Silva departed shaking his head, too, as Edin Dzeko came on. Silva's form has also lacked the consistent majesty of City's first 20 games: another challenge for Mancini.

With three strikers arrayed across the pitch City finally found their way back into the hunt when Michael Essien raised his hands to the ball in Chelsea's penalty area and Aguero took his chance from the spot. Then the forgotten star of City's constellation, danced though Chelsea's defence to chip the ball over Cech.

Relief burst across the home crowd, who found their voices again — and their faith.