Carlos Tevez returned to action and helped Manchester City come from behind to claim a 2-1 win over Chelsea at the Etihad Stadium.

Samir Nasri scores to give Man City win

Carlos Tevez returned to action and helped Manchester City come from behind to claim a 2-1 win over Chelsea at the Etihad Stadium.

Roberto Di Matteo's men had looked on course for a win as Gary Cahill's deflected effort on the hour gave them the lead.

But City battled and were awarded a penalty with just 12 minutes left from time when Michael Essien was penalised for a handball and Sergio Aguero fired home.

Then, with just five-minutes left, Tevez picked up the ball on the edge of the box and he played through a wonderful ball for Nasri to latch onto and finish past Cech.

The win means City are now back to within a point of leaders Manchester United and they have now set a new Premier League record of 20 successive home wins.

Central issues

Both sides had come into the game with central defensive problems.

In the absence of Vincent Kompany and Joleon Lescott, Roberto Mancini solved his by moving Micah Richards into the centre as Kolo Toure's partner and picking Pablo Zabaleta at full-back.

Chelsea were more straightforward as Cahill and David Luiz were given the job of subduing Mario Balotelli and Aguero.

The importance of victory for the hosts could hardly be understated and they tore into their opponents from the first whistle.

Zabaleta had a shot deflected wide and David Silva scooped another over before Nasri rattled the crossbar.

The former Arsenal man might not have lived up to the lofty expectations of him following his summer move north, but he remains a class act.

And after taking down Yaya Toure's long pass magnificently on his chest, the Frenchman lifted his first-time shot over Petr Cech, only to see it come back off the bar.

Nasri was behind City's most incisive work but their next clear sight of goal did not come until the half hour mark, and then the architect was a member of the opposition.

Lampard was not thinking as he rolled a pass along the halfway line and Mario Balotelli seized possession and raced forward to leave the Chelsea defence streaming back in his wake.

However, Cech showed all his experience, staying tall and making the young Italian decide which way to go. Balotelli went left and Cech dived to push it round for a corner.

With Tottenham looming on Saturday, maybe a point would not have been the worst outcome for the visitors.

Their performance was certainly far removed from the thrilling display that eliminated Napoli from the Champions League seven days ago.

Fernando Torres was retained and he worked hard enough after finally breaking that long goal drought.

Juan Mata only got close enough to support once in the first half though, and his finish was poor.

In replacing Balotelli with Gareth Barry at half-time, Mancini was aiming to fill the midfield.

The England man did his job too as it was his tackle that helped create the attack that ended with Nasri firing a disappointing shot over from Toure's lay-off.

Tight

Again, City tightened their grip on the game. Cech got his angles wrong as he attempted to push Nasri's cross over and succeeded only in shoving it against the bar instead.

Zabaleta turned the rebound into the six-yard box, where David Silva's flick was deflected wide and from the corner, Sergio Aguero hooked a shot over.

It was only a matter of time before the opener arrive