City all set to end season on a high

Chelsea 1 Man City 2

A hard-fought and, as Rafael Benitez was quick to point out, controversial victory over holders Chelsea ensured City will return to Wembley on May 11 as overwhelming favourites to beat Wigan Athletic and lift the trophy they won two years ago, breaking a 35-year wait for silverware.

Should the final go the way most will expect it to, the painful memories of abject failure in the Champions League and Manchester United’s comfortable reclamation of the Premier League title will be put into fresh perspective. Whether it will be enough to end speculation about Mancini’s future at the club is a different matter, but the manager can draw satisfaction that his side are finishing the season showing signs of the form that made them champions 12 months ago.

Certainly there was a swagger to the way they started this game and dominated for 66 minutes until the introduction of Fernando Torres sparked a Chelsea revival that left City grateful to have established a two-goal cushion through Samir Nasri and Sergio Aguero.

Demba Ba’s reply triggered late pressure that, in the eyes of Benitez, should have brought a penalty and possible red card when Vincent Kompany appeared to hold Torres. Aguero somehow escaped punishment for a two-footed lunge into David Luiz’s backside two minutes from time, but the challenge betrayed the winners’ anxiety at the death.

“We deserved to win,” said Mancini. “We had some problems in the second half, we were missing a third goal.

“We can do nothing about the title now. I think that we could have won another title if we worked well last summer, but that is the past. Now we have to win the final and finish second in the championship, that is our target.”

The second half ensured the contribution of Costel Pantilimon, surprisingly retained as Mancini’s preferred goalkeeper in the domestic cup competitions ahead of Joe Hart, proved to be as significant as any other member of the team, with the keeper’s excellent save at the feet of Juan Mata proving central to his side’s resistance.

Prior to that though, City had been excellent and should have had the game wrapped up before the teams reached the dressing rooms at half time.

Benitez had made seven changes from the side that started in Thursday’s Europa League tie against Rubin Kazan and, significantly, opted to relegate John Terry and Frank Lampard, mainstays of every Chelsea triumph during the Roman Abramovich era, to the substitutes’ bench.

The move confirmed this is a Chelsea team in transition but, even with the injection of fresh legs, at that point it was impossible not to conclude that, after a gruelling season, the team was running on empty. City were stronger, quicker and more powerful in every department and their victory could have been much more comfortable.

City started positively and the threat of Carlos Tevez and Aguero left an imprint on the Chelsea back four, who were grateful for Petr Cech’s heroics on more than one occasion. Behind the two Argentinians, Yaya Toure and Gareth Barry provided a formidable platform for wave after wave of City attacks as Mancini’s side did to Chelsea what the London club used to do regularly to other teams, particularly during the Jose Mourinho years.

Leggy and lifeless, Chelsea were clinging on and they were finally broken by a driving run by Toure. The Ivorian powered through the Chelsea half, working his way towards the right of the Blues’ area before finding Aguero who laid off for Nasri and the Frenchman finished after benefitting from a lucky rebound.

Had Mancini’s side shown greater care during the remainder of the first half, it would have been a crushing blow. Instead, they got sloppy, with James Milner in particular wasting two good opportunities to add to the lead before the break. No matter, they took less than two minutes to double their advantage when Aguero met Gareth Barry’s cross with a looping header and Chelsea appeared finished.

Somehow though, Chelsea found theenergy to fight back. Torres came on and immediately Ba scored, volleying acrobatically after a long ball from David Luiz. Then came Pantilimon’s intervention, first from Mata and then from Ba before Kompany escaped after tangling with Torres.

City held on though, leaving Chelsea to concentrate on the Europa League and the battle for fourth place.