Frank Lampard scored late on against former club Chelsea to rescue a 1-1 draw for 10-man Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium this afternoon.
The first chance of the game fell the way of the visitors, with Yaya Toure managing to get on the end of David Silva's corner, only to see his effort well held by Thibaut Courtois.
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Opportunities were few and far between in the opening 30 minutes or so, but City continued to probe away and were nearly rewarded when Fernandinho swiped at the ball which fell into the path of James Milner, but the England international's resulting cross was cut out by Courtois.
Chelsea had a penalty shout turned down when Cesc Fabregas's cross into the box looked to have hit an opposition player's hand. Referee Mike Dean was having none of it, though, waving play on.
The remainder of the first half largely disappointed as the tempo dropped, with both sides picking up needless bookings to see the game all square at the break.
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Man City had a second penalty appeal rejected by Dean five minutes after the restart following Branislav Ivanovic's challenge on Toure, while Fernandinho flashed a long-range shot narrowly wide of goal shortly after.
Courtois was forced into a great save to keep the scoreline level when Sergio Aguero unleashed a shot, and Ramires was also on guard to block Edin Dzeko's follow-up attempt.
The game's big talking point came on 66 minutes when Pablo Zabaleta was shown a second yellow card after he clattered into Diego Costa, and it took just five minutes for Chelsea to make the man advantage count courtesy of Andre Schurrle, who rounded off a fine counter-attacking move with a tap-in at the back post.
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Costa came within the width of the post of putting the game beyond the Citizens' reach with his effort from the edge of the box, yet City hit back six minutes from time through former Blues man Lampard.
The New York City loanee, only on the field for a matter of minutes, finished off Milner's cross into the box to level up the contest from eight yards out to leave his former teammates stunned.
It means that Chelsea have dropped points for the first time this season, although they remain top of the Premier League table, while City have now gone three league games without a win.
Daniel Lewis
