3 things we learned from Chelsea's 1-1 draw with Manchester City

Chelsea's draw away to Manchester City was a good result, but the way they dropped points was heartbreaking.

Chelsea have pulled off a very good result on paper, drawing 1-1 away to fellow title contenders Manchester City, but they avoided winning in the most painful way possible. Not only did they give up a lead against a team with 10 men, but the man who scored City's equalizer was none other than Frank Lampard.

The first half was about as dull as could be, with Chelsea content to defend and City not able to do a whole lot about it. When Chelsea had the ball, they didn't really commit numbers forward. City had a decent volume of shots, but never made Thibaut Courtois do anything particularly difficult. The Blues finished the half with just one shot, and it was not on target.

There wasn't much of a change in the second half, but eventually, bookings and physical play became a factor. Referee Mike Dean made it very clear early on that he would be handing out bookings fairly liberally for hard tackles and dissent, but Pablo Zabaleta didn't take his warnings to heart. The City right back was shown a second yellow in the 66th minute, and the Citizens supporters weren't convinced about the sending off. Even though Zabaleta came in hard and from behind, he got more of the ball than Diego Costa, and his fans gave him a standing ovation as he left the pitch.

Down to 10 men, City found it a bit more difficult to defend, though they created problems for themselves to some degree. Even though they were down a man, they were the more ambitious side, and eventually paid for it when they didn't have enough numbers back to defend a Chelsea counter in the 71st minute. Substitute Andre Schürrle was the scorer, tapping in a brilliant Eden Hazard cross that found him at the back post.

Immediately afterwards, City were on tilt and had trouble doing just about anything. With Chelsea up a goal, Diego Costa was the only man they committed to the attack, and he terrorized the hosts by himself. He nearly put the game away in the 81st minute, striking the post with a brilliant effort that had Joe Hart badly beaten.

The Blues were made to pay for not finishing that chance five minutes later, and in the most painful way possible. Chelsea's defense switched off for half a second and were punished by their all-time leading scorer, Frank Lampard, who scored one of his trademark goals off a perfectly timed late run into the penalty area to get on the end of a cross by James Milner. Not only did Lampard not celebrate, but he looked sad to have scored.

Chelsea introduced Didier Drogba after Lampard's goal and looked the much more likely to find a winner, but both teams defended well in the closing minutes. And ultimately, a 1-1 draw feels like a very fair result.

3 things

This should have been a characteristic Mourinho road match - A draw away at the Etihad Stadium is a good result for Chelsea, so Jose Mourinho set up his team to defend and counter. They kept their shape well, denied City chances and were in control of most of the game. Once his team scored against 10-man City, it looked like they'd easily ride out a 1-0 win, and it probably would have finished 0-0 if Pablo Zabaleta never got sent off.

A red card made this game fun - Weirdly, Zabaleta's red caused both teams to try things and open up a bit. Chelsea scored just five minutes after it, forcing 10-man City to start pushing for a goal, which they eventually got. Then, drawing against 10 men, Chelsea attacked during the finale. There was going to be no attacking at all without that red. Thanks, Pablo Zabaleta!

Despite their disappointment, Chelsea are title favorites - So, Frank Lampard scored to deny Chelsea a huge road win against a 10-man side. That sucks. It probably hurts a lot. But they still got an away draw against their biggest rivals for the title, so they're looking like pretty big favorites to win it at this point.

Manchester City: Hart, Kolarov (Lampard 78'), Mangala, Kompany, Zabaleta, Fernandinho (Navas 73'), Toure, Silva, Aguero, Milner, Dzeko (Sagna 70')

Goals: Lampard (85')

Chelsea: Courtois, Azpilicueta, Terry, Cahill, Ivanovic, Matic, Ramires (Schürrle 63'), Fabregas, Hazard, Costa (Drogba 86'), Willian (Mikel 63')

Goals: Schürrle (71')