Chelsea maintained the pressure on Liverpool and United by claiming the three points against Manchester City. For now, the "clash of the cash" has been won by the Russians, as Arab money haven't made the impression that all the pre-season hype suggested it would.

For all the talk of stars that could be on their way to the Eastlands, it was Chelsea's stars that ruled the day, Michael Essien scoring the only goal with his shin when he diverted Frank Lampard's free-kick into the corner of the City goal.

City should be pleased with the scoreline as Chelsea's dominance was thorough, and the victory could have been a lot more emphatic, but in the end of the day it is enough as Chelsea's victory put them ahead of Liverpool in the table on goal difference.

The Londoners nearly doubled their lead when substitute Juliano Belletti came in and shortly after delivered a powerful low effort which struck the woodwork.

The visitors offered next to nothing in attack, giving Chelsea more freedom to go looking for that second goal that would take some of the pressure off, but it never came and ultimately had a frustrating effect around Stamford Bridge. Didier Drogba's replacement, Florent Malouda also had a chance to add his name on the scoreboard and add to his team's tally, but after storming into the penalty area, his powerful shot met the side netting.

The visitors' rare forays included a couple of corners and a free kick for Elano just before the hour, but none of the three dead-ball efforts posed any danger to Chelsea. 

Kelvin Etuhu replaced Elano on 68 minutes to make his first ever league appearance for City since West Ham at home in late August, and within seconds he had an attempt on goal from outside the area that rolled across Cech and wide of his right post.

The Londoners' possession was not translating into the desired second goal, as Richard Dunne and Nedum Onuoha held firm. City’s final replacement saw Valeri Bojinov come on for Robinho, the Brazilian who chose city over Chelsea last summer, who left the pitch to a chorus of boos from the home crowd. The Bulgarian looked lively and energetic, but had little impact on the game.

Mark Hughes told the club's website that battle fatigue finally caught up with the City side at Stamford Bridge on Sunday.

"I think that our efforts [in the Uefa Cup] took a little bit of sharpness out of us that we needed today. Against a side like Chelsea you have to be dynamic and have a physical presence to drive the game.

"We did not have that in our play today, and our absentees would have helped in that respect. Maybe we were just a little lightweight in key areas, and as a consequence once we went behind we found it difficult to get behind Chelsea and cause them problems in the attacking third of the pitch.

"There's the disappointment of conceding a goal like we did, but we kept going. There was not a great deal of tempo to the game, it was slow and methodical and that suited Chelsea rather than us. We were always trying to get back into the game."