Thank you Manchester City....the Premier League race tightens up!

What a difference a weekend can make. The Citizens headed into Stamford Bridge and dominated the Premier League leading Blues winning 4-2, ending the Chelsea home unbeaten streak and putting the entire league race back to a 3 horse competition.

Manchester City demonstrated no fear of heading into a very hostile environment. Tevez and Bellamy both proved incredibly dangerous to the Chelsea defense. Chelsea also looked rattled after finding themselves down at the start of the second half. Their defense looked very shaky with Terry and Carvalho both being completely turned around by the first Tevez goal. Chelsea fans also thought that Peter Cech was a disaster this season, unfortunately his understudy - Hilario - is not making anyone forget the Czech Republic keeper. Clearly Chelsea miss the presence of Essien. In the past, the Blues could count on Essien and Makelele to hold down the defensive midfield and really provide the glue that kept the team in one piece - allowing players such as Ballack, Lampard, Cole and the likes to play their offensive game without any real focus on their defensive duties. Without these two defensive workhorses, Chelsea has a gaping hole between the back 4 and the offensive players. While this can be overcome for the majority of their matches, against a quality attacking such as the Citizens they end up paying the price.

The table as it stands:

Pos		Name	P	W	D	L	F	A	W	D	L	F	A	GD	PTS
1		Chelsea	28	12	1	1	41	12	7	3	4	24	14	+39	61
2		Man Utd	28	12	1	1	39	8	7	2	5	27	16	+42	60
3		Arsenal	28	11	1	2	38	14	7	3	4	28	17	+35	58
4		Tottenham	28	9	2	3	30	9	5	5	4	20	18	+23	49
5		Manchester City	27	9	4	0	30	14	4	6	4	22	21	+17	49
6		Liverpool	28	10	2	2	33	12	4	4	6	12	16	+17	48
7		Aston Villa	26	7	5	2	23	10	5	4	3	14	11	+16	45
8		Birmingham	27	7	5	2	13	8	4	2	7	13	20	-2	40
9		Fulham	28	9	2	3	21	9	1	6	7	11	20	+3	38
10		Everton	27	7	5	2	23	17	3	3	7	16	22	0	38
11		Stoke City	27	6	4	4	20	17	2	6	5	7	15	-5	34
12		Blackburn	28	8	4	2	21	12	1	3	10	9	33	-15	34
13		West Ham Utd	27	5	4	4	23	20	1	5	8	12	23	-8	27
14		Sunderland	27	5	6	2	19	14	1	3	10	13	30	-12	27
15		Bolton	27	4	5	5	18	23	2	3	8	12	26	-19	26
16		Wigan Athletic	27	3	5	5	11	18	3	2	9	15	35	-27	25
17		Wolves	27	4	3	7	10	19	2	3	8	11	26	-24	24
18		Hull City	27	5	5	3	18	20	0	4	10	7	34	-29	24
19		Burnley	27	6	4	3	18	14	0	1	13	10	43	-29	23
20		Portsmouth	27	3	2	8	16	20	2	2	10	7	25	-22	19

The John Terry and Wayne Bridge off field news dominated the pre-game hype, but in the end it was a game between two teams that have followed a similar path. Prior to both teams being taken over by absurdly wealthy owners, they were both good clubs, but clearly second tier in both England and in their own cities. Now both sides are backed by owners with deep pockets and can have rebuilt both sides through outrageous spending on players (ironically one player - Sean Wright Phillips was one of Chelsea's big early acquisition once Abramovich bought the side is now back with his original club who is now also a big spender).

Manchester City has some top quality scalps this season - Chelsea (twice!) and Arsenal. They also had a spell of dreadful draws which got Hughes sacked. Much like Chelsea with Abramovich, Manchester City is looking to break into the top of the Premiership on the backs of mountains of funds to go out and acquire what ever player they see fit. That strategy has worked for Chelsea - 2 Premier League titles with the Russian billionaire's rubles - and appears to be relatively successful for the Citizens - currently tied with Tottenham for 4th spot in the Premiership.

What remains to be seen is if Manchester City can sustain this form and truly maintain itself at the top of the table for seasons to come. On the pitch, at least this past weekend, they seemed to clearly make the claim that they do not feel threatened by any of the established big clubs.