Chelsea-Manchester City: From Terry to Tevez, Talking Point Galore

This is the weekend in the Premier League where every player is out to prove himself for their national team's manager ahead of the mid-week international friendlies.

In the Premier League this weekend, Arsenal take on Stoke City in a game that some say could define their season, and Liverpool have a big game against Blackburn Rovers, as they fight for the fourth UEFA Champions League place.

Also, there's the Old Firm matchup in Scotland, a forever thrilling and fiesty encounter between the Catholics, Celtic, and the Protestants, Rangers.

And obviously, we have the big game on Sunday; London and Wembley Stadium is the destination, as Manchester United lock horns with Aston Villa in what many believe will be one of the most exciting Carling Cup Finals we've had in recent times.

But before all of that, as you all of course very well know, Chelsea hosted Manchester City at Stamford Bridge in the most highly anticipated clash of the 2009/10 Premier League season; a game which produced many talking points.

Carlo Ancelotti and Roberto Mancini re-create Serie A

To almost every neutral spectator out there, the first 40 minutes of this match was a truly colossal non-event.

Until Frank Lampard opened the scoring and impressed the eagerly watching Fabio Capello with a well-taken finish on 42 minutes, Manchester City sat back and soaked up the pressure from home side Chelsea.

Trained by manager Roberto Mancini in the fine art of catenaccio football, City offered little in attack but a lot in defence, with Didier Drogba and Nicolas Anelka finding it almost impossible to break through.

And on Chelsea's part, until the calamitous defensive effort in the 45th minute between John Terry, Ricardo Carvalho and Hilario, they too seemed at times to employ the catenaccio style.

For the majority of the first-half at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea vs. Manchester City looked more like a game suited to Italy's solid, well-organised Serie A rather than England's fast-paced, all-action Premier League.

Chelsea giving out presents to Manchester United and Arsenal

The implosion of Chelsea today in a bitterly disappointing 4-2 defeat for the Blues was welcomed with pure delight by their main rivals in the Premier League title race.

Arsenal had to worry about a brutal, tough game against Stoke City whilst Manchester United were concerned about a real energy draining encounter with Aston Villa at Wembley.

But both teams will have been given a fundamental confidence boost heading into their all-important clashes, knowing that Chelsea are becoming more and more vulnerable at the top of the table.

Manchester United are now within one point of Chelsea, while Arsenal can move to within three points if they emerge victorious from their battle at the Britannia Stadium against Stoke.

Manchester City: Look at them now.

Manchester City's famous 4-2 victory against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge was their first double over the West London club since 1957.

And some geeky statistician will also tell you it was their first win at Chelsea since xyz no. of years, and the first time they did this, that and the other.

Also, just a decade or so ago, Manchester City were languishing in England's second tier and finding it tough against teams like Gillingham FC.

Now look them, beating Chelsea away from home in a massive sporting event the whole world wants to watch, and claiming that anything but a place in the UEFA Champions League next season is a failure.

From mid-table obscurity to international superstardom, Manchester City are more up there with the likes of Chelsea than down there with the likes of Gillingham.

Carlos Tevez: From Argentina with love...

He missed four games due to problems concerning his baby daughter, and then he came back and scored twice after only two or three days of proper training.

Carlos Tevez came back to England not in full match fitness, but he took to the world stage and again showed why he's a valuable asset Manchester United, and currently Diego Maradona's Argetina, are missing out on.

And to do that against Chelsea away from home is something quite special. Until he worked a goal out of nothing, Chelsea were totally in control of proceedings at Stamford Bridge.

Tevez steps up and scores, and the Blues re-emerge in the second-half a totally shaken team; a unit of players that internally break apart and consequently lose a vital fixture in their season.

Carlos Tevez deserved man of the match, as well as his 15th league goal of the season and 21st in all competitions.

Mancini turns City in an efficient machine

Whilst the catenaccio style produces some rather boring football at times, it's positives looked to be in full force for Manchester City against Chelsea.

Thanks largely to Shay Given, Drogba, Anelka, Lampard and co. were wasteful in their goalscoring opportunities, having a total of 20 shots on goal (12 on-target and 8 off-target) and yet scoring only two goals.

And thanks largely to Hilario and the calamitous Chelsea defence, Tevez, Craig Bellamy, Roque Santa Cruz and co. were extremely Italian-style efficient in their chances on goal, with only eight shots throughout the match (six of which were on-target, and only two off-target) and yet scoring four goals.

A 50 percent strike rate, or 2:1 goals to shots ratio, is a very impressive statistic which highlights the great work Roberto Mancini is doing at the City of Manchester Stadium.

Wayne Bridge can't handle the pressure? More like Adam Johnson and Micah Richards!

As you all know, the whole media world were piling the pressure on Manchester City full-back Wayne Bridge, with many questioning whether or not he was in the right mental state to take part in this match.

But took the stage in front of watchful eyes of the world, and produced a calm, composed and solid performance.

However, the same can't be said for young winger Adam Johnson, who made many unusual mistakes (such as mis-directed passes, lapses in concentration, and at times a lack of attacking intent), despite the pressure not being on him at all.

England U-21 defender Micah Richards was the same, as he made some mis-timed tackles, at times was poorly positioned, and overall looked shaky.

For the psychologists among you, this can of course be explained by arousal and the Inverted-U hypothesis.

Thought Wayne Bridge would suffer from over-arousal problems? Well, think again. Adam Johnson and Micah Richards were just not up to the task, and the pressure wasn't even on them. What does that say about their mental state!?

Any more talking points?

Apparently there was something to do with John Terry and Wayne Bridge, and the fact that Bridge didn't shake Terry's hand before the game.

Anyway, it's only a small matter it seems. Because, of course, who really cares about a player's private life? Isn't it what happens on the pitch that counts?

And on the pitch today, what an epic game it was (well, for around 50 minutes at least).

So in the end, a massive result it was in West London, with the most highly-anticipated encounter of the season ending in a Bridge of highs for Manchester City.