Let’s get the preliminaries out of the way:

Chelsea– Cech, Bosingwa, Ivanovic, (England’s Brave and Loyal John) Terry, Cole Ramires, Romeu, Meireles, Sturridge, Drogba.

Man City– Hart, Zabaleta, Lescott, Kompany, Clichy, Milner, Touré Yaya, Barry, Silva, Aguero, Balotelli.

We’re underway. It’s absolutely bucketing down in London…

GOAL! Chelsea 0-1 Man City

Aguero ducks in from the right wing and, flicking the ball forward with the outside of his boot, slips a through ball to Mario Balotelli. The Italian takes a couple of touches, rounds Peter Cech and nudges the ball in nonchalantly.

André Villas-Boas has risen from the bench to stand, like some footballing martyr, in the driving rain.

Ray Wilkins reckon the players will really enjoy the slippery conditions tonight… I doubt the slowcoaches sitting in the middle of the Chelsea defence would agree.

Aguero and Balotelli are complicating things for Chelsea, dropping back at every opportunity to pester Meireles, Mata and Ramires.

Aguero embarks on a long, sinuous run through the centre of the Chelsea defence before wrong-footing both Cole and Romeu and driving a shot wide of Petr Cech’s left post.

Drama in the Chelsea penalty area!

Silva finds himself in a couple of yards of space, feints to the left and is met by Bosingwa, who sticks out a leg and invites the Spaniard to hit the deck.

Mark Clattenburg is five yards away and signals for play to continue.

Yaya Touré has taken to bustling Juan Mata, first nudging him with a kick, then grasping at his face when he attempted to remonstrate.

The Spaniard looks petrified.

A poor pass from Touré gifts possession to Mata, but the Spaniard is dispossessed nearly immediately.

City are pressing the ball really efficiently.

Finally, Chelsea manage to string together a series of incisive passes, eventually releasing Drogba on the left wing. The Ivorian cuts inside and, instead of lofting the ball towards the back post, where there are three blue shirts waiting, hoists a shot wide.

Drogba appears to have hyper-extended his knee slightly. He should consider it karmic retribution for the profligacy in front of goal.

Ray Wilkins’ patronising tendency to refer to players by their first names has officially become irritating. I lasted half an hour.

The straw that broke the camel’s back:

“Calm down there, Vincent [Kompany].”

GOAL! Chelsea 1-1 Manchester City

Daniel Sturridge powers past Clichy in the left corner before driving a ball across the face of Joe Hart’s goal. The boot of Raul Meireles is there to meet it and, out of nothing, Chelsea have a foothold in the game.

Incredibly, the equaliser marks Raul Meireles’s first goal in a Chelsea shirt. The Portuguese streamed unobstructed through the middle of the park to get on the end of that cross.

Vincent Kompany, who obviously didn’t think much of Ray Wilkins’ advice, shoulders Drogba to the ground after John Terry, of all people, side-foots a through ball past the Belgian. The result, rather unsurprisingly, is a yellow card.

“The thing with Didier…”

Shut up, Wilkins!

City’s early confidence has dissipated somewhat. The league leaders appear content to push the ball back and forth across their back line.

Meireles is becoming increasingly assertive, dictating the tempo of Chelsea’s attacking play.

Half-time: Chelsea 1-1 Manchester City

Chelsea weathered an opening storm (both literally and figuratively) before drawing level through Raúl Meireles just after the half-hour mark. Since then, City have looked a little less inclined to commit numbers forward.

Aside from the goals, both of which were scored apropos of nothing, the game has been characterised by a series of rash challenges. The aforementioned Portuguese raked his studs down the Zabaleta’s shin, Yaya Touré engaged in a running battle with Juan Mata, and Vincent Kompany took one for the team when he hauled a rampaging, goal-bound Didier Drogba to the turf.

Hehe…

Who deserves to win this season’s Puskás award? (Videos here.)

We’re back underway.

Meireles, whose looked in combative mood all night and is carrying a yellow card, could make way for Frank Lampard soon.

Gael Clichy is booked for tiring of Daniel Sturridge’s high-jinks and pushing him to the ground.

The resulting free kick finds Sturridge at the back post. He shields the ball with his chest, settles himself and fires a shot over the bar. City went to sleep there.

Sturridge skins Clichy again, racing to the goal-line before driving across to the near post. Meireles can’t quite reach this one, though, and the ball’s cleared.

A fabulous run from Juan Mata is brought to a crashing halt by Vincent Kompany. The Belgian could easily have been shown a second yellow, but is offered a reprieve by the referee.

Drogba’s free-kick is cleared with ease.

Ray Wilkins on Juan Mata: “He has legs to die for.”

I choose not to provide any additional context for that quote.

Both of City’s enforcers– Kompany and Touré– have yellow cards to their name; a fact that could well prove problematic over the coming half-hour…

I am sort-of psychic! We have a red card, alright, but it’s for Clichy! Disoriented by Sturridge’s pace again, the full-back sticks a toe out and sends Ramires careening to a halt.

The loss of Clichy appears to have roused City, who have begun to attack the ball with a conviction they haven’t displayed since the opening stages of the first half.

That said, energy alone can’t compensate for the loss of a man, and Aguero is sacrificed to bolster City’s defensive effort. He makes way for Kolo Touré.

Romeu is booked for… jumping near Mario Balotelli?

Harsh.

A fine, dipping cross from Bosingwa nearly finds Didier Drogba on the edge of the City six-yard box before bouncing away to left touchline.

A careless pass from Mata, just as Chelsea were beginning to apply some sustained pressure, cedes possession to City and Mancini’s men begin to move forward en masse. It’s purposeful stuff, but the final ball is lacking.

Lo, Martin Tyler declared this the time for Frank Lampard. And so it came to pass.

The arthritis-stricken oldster is on for Raúl Meireles.

Ramires becomes the latest Chelsea player to see yellow for rash, sliding lunge on Chelsea’s right touchline.

Nigel de Jong cracks his knuckles and enters the fray as a replacement for the effete, continental lightweight that is David Silva.

He’ll be charged with kicking Frank Lampard’s shins.

Robert Mancini would love it Keegan-style if his side could get out of this with a point.

“There are certain players who love a ball to tackle, and Didier’s one of those,” wiffles Ray Wilkins as Chelsea’s big target man gets booked for flattening Zabaleta.

A canny backheel from Drogba releases Ramires, but the Brazilian is swamped before he can threaten Hart.

Chelsea have enjoyed something approaching a ten-minute spell of uninterrupted possession.

PENALTY!

Sturridge collects the ball just inside the City box and dispatches a shot towards the top corner. Lescott gets in the way, however, and deflects the ball with his arm.

GOAL! Chelsea 2-1 Manchester City

Lampard pummels an effort straight down the middle of Joe Hart’s goal, but the keeper is elsewhere, having dived for his left post. The celebrations are rapturous.

Dzeko is on for Lescott, and Malouda replaces Juan Mata.

Balotelli wins a free-kick in the left corner after discombobulating Bosingwa with some dazzling footwork. Terry shepherds the free-kick out of play at the back post.

John Mikel Obi/ Mikel John Obi/ Obi John Mikel is on for Daniel Sturridge. His ultra-conservative lateral passing is just what the doctor ordered for Chelsea.

Yaya Toure body-checks Ramires and, somewhat miraculously, remains on the pitch.

Drogba executes a Cruyff turn on the right wing and punts a shot in Joe Hart’s direction. He’s all of 40 yards out, but the effort isn’t far way at all, dipping just beyond the crossbar.

It’s all over!Full-time Chelsea 2-1 Manchester City

Stamdord Bridge erupts as Chelsea’s players surround Frank Lampard and collapse into something approaching a group hug.