Chelsea remain three points clear at the top of the Premier League table and five points clear of Manchester City, but they left the Etihad Stadium last night with the sense of an opportunity missed.
With five minutes to go, they looked as though they would complete a fifth successive win to take a grip on the title race, eight points ahead of City, nine ahead of Liverpool, 10 ahead of Manchester United.
It seems absurd to say it this early in the season, but, if they had won, it would have felt as though the title race was already over.
Until Frank Lampard’s 85th-minute equaliser, this was a classic Jose Mourinho game. His side sat deep and looked to hold City at arm’s length.
Meanwhile, Diego Costa niggled away. Even when he did not look like scoring, the Chelsea forward was winding up the City defence.
Vincent Kompany and Eliaquim Mangala were admirably calm in the face of his provocations, but he did succeed in tempting Pablo Zabaleta into a needless challenge that earned him a second yellow card.
Costa himself was booked for his part in the incident, but he probably saw it as a price worth paying.
Five minutes before the red card, Mourinho had brought on two substitutes. Four minutes later, one of them, Andre Schurrle, had scored as he completed a fine breakaway move and, in the process, made his manager’s decision-making look inspired.
Where the missed opportunity came was that Chelsea, with a numerical advantage, did not finish off their opponents.
Costa, who has proven so lethal for the London side so far this season with seven goals in four Premier League games, proved that he is human after all as he struck the post with a low shot.
It was ultimately the Spaniard's most underwhelming performance for Chelsea, even though he did have a hand in their goal as he found Eden Hazard on the right for the Belgian to cross in for Schurrle.
He did not play badly, by any means, but his game seemed just off enough to raise doubts about the state of his hamstring, which had kept him out of the starting line-up for Wednesday’s Uefa Champions League draw with Schalke.
A week off, assuming he does not play against Championship side Bolton Wanderers in the League Cup on Wednesday, may be just what he needs before next Saturday’s meeting with Aston Villa at Stamford Bridge, and the evidence of this season is that Chelsea need him fit if they are to step on from last year’s failed title challenge.
Even after Costa had struck the post, the game seemed won, City lacking invention and, it appeared, self-belief.
The equaliser, when it came, was from nothing: a ball forward, a volleyed cross from James Milner and a tumbling finish from Lampard.
Perhaps they could have done more to kill the game, perhaps they should have spoiled, perhaps Mourinho will wonder why two players were allowed to win balls unchallenged in the box, but one moment of sloppiness does not disguise the fact that Chelsea looked to have the game under control and really should have won.
Since joining Porto in 2002, Mourinho has won the title in the second season he has spent at every club he has been at, and being three points clear already hints that streak will not end this year.
Their points advantage could have been better if they had held on Sunday, but Chelsea still find themselves with clear water between them and the chasing pack and they have already played the champions away.
There may be short-term disappointment, but Chelsea left the Etihad in a better position than they arrived.
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