Gol Ivanovic Tekuk City, Chelsea Berpeluang Pimpin Klasemen
Ivanovic Strike Sinks Pellegrini`s Men and Keeps Jose in the Title Hunt
Editor : Ismail Gani
Translator : Novita Cahyadi
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Manchester (B2B) - Gol Branislav Ivanovic pada menit ke-32 dan taktik Jose Mourinho membuat Chelsea menang 1-0 atas tuan rumah Manchester City pada pertandingan Liga Inggris Selasa dini hari WIB.
Hasil ini membuat tim asuhan Manuel Pellegrini gagal untuk pertama kalinya meraih poin penuh di kandang. Sebelumnya, City memiliki rekor 100 persen menang di kandang untuk kompetisi Liga Premier musim ini.
Bagi City, hasil ini juga membuat tetap berada di urutan kedua klasemen sementara dan gagal merebut kembali tahta puncak klasemen sementara dari tangan Arsenal yang memimpin dengan 55 poin dari 24 pertandingan, seperti dilansir Yahoo News.
Sementara bagi Chelsea, hasil ini membuat nilainya menyamai City yakni 53 poin. Namun karena The Blues kalah selisih gol maka posisinya masih tetap di peringkat tiga klasemen sementara.
Menurut Scoremobile, pada pertandingan ini City lebih menguasai permainan yakni dengan penguasaan bola 60% sedangkan lawannya hanya 40%.
City juga lebih banyak melakukan tendangan ke gawang yakni 25 tendangan dengan tiga tendangan ke sasaran, sementara Chelsea 18 tendangan dengan enam tendangan ke sasaran. Wasit mengeluarkan enam kartu kuning, yakni tiga untuk masing-masing tim.
Pada Sabtu (8/2) pimpinan klasemen Arsenal akan menghadapi lawan berat yang kini menduduki urutan keempat Liverpool. Liverpool yang menjadi tuan rumah dan memiliki 47 poin tentu akan berjuang keras agar tetap bisa bersaing dalam perebutan pimpinan klaseman.
Sementara itu Chelsea akan menghadapi Newcastle United dan City akan tandang Norwict City yang menduduki urutan ke-15.
London - Branislav Ivanovic´s first-half cracker and Jose Mourinho´s tactical mastery helped classy Chelsea claim a 1-0 win on Monday at Premier League title rivals Manchester City who failed to score at home for the first time this season.
Chelsea´s battling victory put the Londoners level on 53 points with second-placed City and within two points of league leaders Arsenal after 24 games. It also ended City´s run of scoring in 61 consecutive home league games since 2010.
Ivanovic struck just after the half-hour mark when Ramires´ effort was blocked by Vincent Kompany and fell for the Serbian right back, who let fly first time from the edge of the box and saw his powerful left-foot shot nestle in the far corner.
City had chances to equalise but Chelsea, who also hit the woodwork three times, were always a threat on the break in an absorbing contest, which was decided by Mourinho´s ability to find the perfect blend between attack and defence.
Monday´s game was billed as a potential early title decider by some, such has been City´s incredible form and the widely held belief that wily Chelsea are their most likely challengers despite Arsenal having led the race for much of the season.
In the battle between the team with the best attack and the outfit with the meanest defence in the league, both managers chose a more defensive midfield than usual to try to take charge of the game at the Etihad Stadium.
Centre backs Martin Demichelis and David Luiz were employed in the centre of the park for City and Chelsea respectively and the visitors´ playmaker Oscar was left on the bench but the game started openly with both sides having decent sniffs at goal.
Free-scoring City, without injured Argentine talisman Sergio Aguero, threatened when Alvaro Negredo fired over and Yaya Toure twice went close but David Silva had the best opportunity after 18 minutes when his close range finish squirmed wide.
