Tevez back on City bench

Carlos Tevez returned to the Manchester City substitutes’ bench this evening, six months after refusing to warm-up for that fateful Champions League tie with Bayern Munich.

Tevez’s presence was an indication of the pressure City were under ahead of their Barclays Premier League encounter with Chelsea, finding themselves four points adrift of leaders Manchester United.

With Vincent Kompany and Joleon Lescott both missing, Micah Richards was selected in central defence alongside Kolo Toure.

Interim Chelsea boss Roberto di Matteo took the surprise decision to leave Didier Drogba on the bench in favour of Fernando Torres, who ended his scoring drought at the weekend.

Injured skipper John Terry did not travel and David Luiz and Gary Cahill were given the job of subduing Sergio Aguero and Mario Balotelli.

Man City: Hart, Zabaleta, Richards, Toure, Clichy, Silva, Toure Yaya, De Jong, Nasri, Aguero, Balotelli. Subs: Pantilimon, Milner, Dzeko, Kolarov, Savic, Barry, Tevez.

Chelsea: Cech, Ivanovic, Luiz, Cahill, Cole, Mikel, Meireles, Ramires, Lampard, Mata, Torres. Subs: Turnbull, Essien, Drogba, Malouda, Bosingwa, Kalou, Sturridge.

Referee: Mike Dean (Wirral)