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Chelsea's John Terry wipes his brow as his team goes 1-3 down against Manchester City - Source: Reuters -
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Manchester City scored a memorable 4-2 victory over Premier League leaders Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Sunday during a clash where the drama started before it had even kicked off
It began with the highly publicised first meeting between former Chelsea team mates John Terry and Wayne Bridge since details of Terry's alleged affair with Bridge's former girlfriend created a media storm.
Bridge ignored Terry's outstretched arm and refused to shake his hand in the pre-match greeting ceremony and while their paths did not cross on the pitch, Bridge emerged the happier man on a day when Chelsea finished with nine men and lost their 37-match unbeaten home record.
Manchester City also did their arch-rivals Manchester United a favour in the title race as they prevented Chelsea building on their lead over United at the top.
Chelsea have 61 points from 28 matches, one ahead of United (60), who meet Aston Villa in the League Cup final on Monday (NZT)
Third-placed Arsenal left it late to beat Stoke City 3-1 in the late kick-off.
City moved on to 49 points, one place above Tottenham Hotspur (46), who play Everton on Monday.
Traumatic week
Bottom-placed Portsmouth ended a traumatic week, when they were placed in administration and sustained an automatic nine point penalty to virtually seal their relegation, won 2-1 at second-from bottom Burnley who are looking increasingly likely to return to the Championship after one season in the top flight.
Pompey won with goals from Frederic Piquionne and a penalty from Hassan Yebda, while Jamie O'Hara missed a penalty for Portsmouth who also had Ricardo Rocha sent off.
Bolton Wanderers climbed out of the bottom three with a 1-0 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers with Zat Knight scoring the only goal just before halftime.
Centre stage
The match at Stamford Bridge took centre stage though and while the meeting of Terry and Bridge caught the eye before kickoff, Manchester City certainly caught it in the second half.
After a largely forgettable opening 40 minutes, the game came to life when Frank Lampard put Chelsea ahead, but City were level before halftime after Bridge's long punt up field led to confusion in the Chelsea defence and resulted in Carlos Tevez scoring their equaliser.
Tevez then held off Terry and Ricardo Carvalho before hitting a not particularly hard shot which Chelsea's reserve goalkeeper Hilario failed to save.
Chelsea never recovered their composure after that and ended the afternoon beaten at home for the first time since November 2008.
Emotional day
While it might have been an emotional day for Bridge and Terry, it was also a significant one for Tevez, who scored twice after returning from compassionate leave in Argentina following the premature birth of his second daughter last week.
"It has been a difficult week following the birth of my baby, but its Ok, and I have played and scored. I always like playing against Chelsea and always score against them. Sorry Chelsea," Tevez said.
Craig Bellamy put City 2-1 ahead six minutes into the second half with another angled shot after a driving run. City sealed the win after Juliano Belletti was sent off in the 75th minute after tripping Gareth Barry with Tevez making it 3-1 from the spot.
Michael Ballack was then dismissed for a tackle from behind on Tevez before Bellamy tapped in at the far post after a quick break from former Chelsea winger Shaun Wright-Phillips to make it 4-1.
A consolation goal from a Lampard penalty after Barry tripped Nicolas Anelka saved the league leaders from an even heavier mauling.
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