As the 2003-04 Arsenal Invincibles crack open the champagne now that their historic unbeaten season is once again safe, they should pause for a moment to toast one of their own. Had it not been for ex-Gunner Gael Clichy's slack defending and stunningly brainless tackling, it is doubtful that Man City would have suffered its first Premier League defeat, a somewhat dubious 2-1 loss to Chelsea in their Cashico at the Bridge. It's a result that every neutral should cheer, given that it keeps us interested in the title race at least through the new year. City's lead is now a mere two points over Manchester United -- the Red Devils could displace their fellow Europa Leaguers atop the table if they beat QPR this weekend and City loses to Arsenal -- and seven over Chelsea, which leapfrogged its two London rivals into third place.

Forgotten Frank Lampard -- left out of the starting lineup for the second consecutive game -- Lazarus-ed up from the Chelsea bench to score the decisive penalty in the 82nd minute after Joleon Lescott was ruled to have handled in the box, a decision somewhat generous to the hosts, especially after David Silva's justifiable yelp for a more obvious first-half penalty had been studiously ignored.

Roberto Mancini has said all along that he fully expected his team to lose a league game sooner or later, so perhaps it's better for Man City in the long run that the added burden of an unbeaten run is off its back, along with the pressure of trying to win the Champions League. Now the Sky Blues are free to concentrate on the Carling Cup.

This was yet another night of vindication for Andre Villas-Boas, the perhaps-no-longer-quite-so-beleaguered Chelsea manager, whose idea of grace under pressure in the run-up to the game was to issue one petulant tirade after another. His verbal assault on the media as a bunch of clueless, biased prats was only his opening salvo. He also had informed Nicolas Anelka (who spurned a life of leisure in the MLS for a life of leisure at $273,000 a week in China) and Alex that their services were no longer needed and then underlined his full siege mentality by banning the squad's reserves from first-team training.

But perhaps his most painfully comic edict was to insist that his players conduct their goal celebrations in front of the dugout so they could include the coaching staff.

Did AVB really think a proud warrior like Lampard would heed that ridiculous dictate, especially after being relegated to the bench and forced to accept that he was deemed too old and "slow" for the new Chelsea? The 33-year-old midfielder, for so long the heartbeat of the dominant Blues teams of yore, wasn't about to feign a bromance with his 34-year-old manager.

After smashing in the penalty kick with all the pent-up ferocity of a man who has been pushed to the margins, Lampard looked up at the delirious Chelsea supporters and thumped his chest, engulfed by teammates all too aware of his game-winning goal's catharsis.

Yet it could all have ended so differently for the Blues had Clichy kept his wits and not forced City to play the last half-hour with ten men.

Before the West London prawn-sandwich brigade had even settled in their luxury suites, Sergio Aguero spun deftly past the oil tanker-slow John Terry and bisected two defenders with a perfectly placed through ball to Mario Balotelli. And yes, this is the same Mad Mario who added to his bag of circus tricks by breaking curfew Sunday night to hang out in a mall. It took Balotelli only two minutes to show why -- unlike, say, Carlos Tevez -- Mancini is willing to put up with his shenanigans.

In his typically insouciant fashion, Balotelli loped onto Aguero's pass, rode a desperate challenge by a sliding Branislav Ivanovic, skipped around a diving Petr Cech and rolled the ball into an empty net. Then he stood there with his trademark thousand-yard stare drinking in the adoration of the away fans.

The blistering pace and gusto of City's start was never going to last the full 90 minutes, given the spirit and resolve AVB had instilled in his embattled squad. In the end, it was the one Blues player Mancini feared most that tore apart the Chelsea rearguard.