Manchester City 2-0 Chelsea
Manager’s reactions:
Man City – Roberto Mancini
“I think we deserved to win because we played well and perhaps could have won by more,” said the Blues’ boss. “I thought the whole team played very well today and I was pleased for Jack Rodwell who gave a very good performance after so long out. “I think we had four or five really good chances to score in the first-half but we are happy because Chelsea had the chance to go ahead from the penalty.
I think the decision not to send off Joe Hart was correct because the ball was going out. “I think Joe and Kolo Toure made mistakes in the build-up to their penalty and I said this to them – but after that they were fantastic. It was an important save but it wouldn’t have been fair because we were playing better, but that’s how football works sometimes.
” With the gap at the top back to 12 points, Mancini believes it is not important to keep studying the statistics because the only way the Blues can hope to catch United is to continue winning games. “It’s not important for us to look at the table because we just have to work hard and continue to improve because we can improve.
Chelsea – Rafael Benitez
In the first half we didn’t do well, we were giving the ball away, we were not winning second balls or switching play as we were expecting so we didn’t create too much,’ said Benitez. ‘But in the second half everything changed and we had the penalty and yes, it could have been different. ‘We didn’t do well in the first half but at half-time it was still 0-0 so we were talking about keeping the ball a bit better and showing more character, and then we had the penalty so it was a crucial moment. ‘It was a good penalty by Frank but it was a good save so it is credit to Joe Hart.’
On the remainder of the league season… ‘When you lose you have to be disappointed and this game was important for us because we could have been closer to Man City but we cannot give up, we have to carry on, try to win our games and get close. ‘We have to fight for the top four because Arsenal, Tottenham and Everton are close behind.’
