19/10/2002  Man City 0 Chelsea 3
 
Manchester City's Premiership crisis deepened at Maine Road this afternoon when they slumped to their second successive three-goal home defeat.

Three weeks ago, manager Kevin Keegan highlighted Michael Owen as Liverpool's dangerman and the England striker promptly responded with a hat-trick.

Today, it was Gianfranco Zola's turn to prove Keegan can still spot a player, dumping City into the bottom four with a second half double after the home team had dominated the first hour.

The diminutive Italian put Chelsea in front midway through the second period when home defender Niclas Jensen nodded an attempted clearance from Graeme le Saux's corner straight at the veteran front-man.

After an encouraging start, City fell apart. Their defence crumbling completely allowing Zola and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink clean runs on goal in the final 10 minutes, the latter lashing home his first goal in open play this season.

Neither side could claim to have entered the game in a particularly good mood, given their dismal form going into the international break.

Cash-strapped Chelsea had lost three on the trot, including a humiliating European exit at the hands of Norwegian minnows Viking Stavanger, while City, tipped for a top six spot by Kevin Keegan on the eve of their return to the top flight, had taken just two points from five games and been savaged by their manager for a passionless display at Southampton a fortnight ago.

The source of City's problems was easy to identify, given the regularity with which they conceded early goals.

So, just to reach the 10 minute mark with the scores still level was something of a moral victory, although Keegan would no doubt argue his team should have been in front, given the importance of two refereeing decisions which went against them in those opening stages.

Dermot Gallagher appeared to get it right when Nicolas Anelka looked to fall over his own feet, rather than those of Graeme le Saux as he charged onto Marc Vivien Foe's pass inside the Chelsea box after eight minutes.

However, Keegan had more of a case for the incident which occurred after just three minutes when Jensen threaded a pass beyond the visitors' defence and in the direction of Shaun Goater.

The Bermudan looked be heading clean through but was tugged back by Chelsea skipper Marcel Desailly, unseen apparently by Gallagher, otherwise a red card would have been certain.

If that wasn't enough, Eyal Berkovic then hit a post when he latched onto Goater's near post cut-back, Keegan by now completely exasperated by the continuing run of bad luck.

After such an encouraging start, the game seemed destined to turn into a thriller. Instead, with Desailly outstanding, Chelsea reinforced their defences and largely took the sting out of City's attacking play.

Marc Vivien Foe blasted over and Carlo Cudicini saved low to deny Shaun Wright-Phillips when City did break free of Desailly's shackles but though the home side pushed forward with most enthusiasm, there remained a lingering feeling that they would eventually be picked off.

That anxiety was reinforced by the superb double save Peter Schmeichel was forced to make to deny Hasselbaink and Frank Lampard, the first blocked by the great Dane's chest, although a linesman's flag had already been raised.

The first half ended with a flurry of yellow cards, which saw Enrique de Lucas, Frank Lampard and Ali Benarbia all booked, Wright-Phillips having another shot saved in between before Cudicini dived low to deny the excellent Berkovic a scoring chance with the final kick of the opening period following an astute Anelka cross.

City continued where they left off after the interval, pushing forward when they could, only to find Cudicini an immovable force in the Chelsea goal.

The Italian did well to turn Foe's close range shot away with a low save, then did better to deny Anelka, who had dribbled his way into space on the edge of the area.

The impact of those saves was immediately felt as Chelsea took the lead, although questions will be asked why the smallest man on the field found himself with time and space to nod home inside the six-yard area.

Having seen their side fall behind again, the home fans were hardly in jubilant mood as crowd favourite Goater was hauled off for Darren Huckerby.

Unfortunately for Keegan, the change had no effect whatsoever and with City's formation crumbling, Chelsea's next attacking raid saw Zola race clear from Le Saux's chipped ball over the top and smash the ball past Schmeichel.

Within two minutes Hasselbaink had struck in similar circumstances from Mario Melchiot's long pass and the home fans could head for an early exit.