Patrick Vieira’s men held their own New Year celebrations eight days in, as goals from Brandon Barker, Thierry Ambrose and a last-minute winner from when a last minute Charly Musonda winner denied City EDS a deserved point in the capital.
Vieira made just two changes from the side that narrowly lost out to Spurs in the last league outing last month. Kean Bryan came into the heart of defence to partner George Evans, while Jose Angel Pozo returned up front in the place of Jordy Hiwula.
While Pozo’s performances at this level were rewarded with first team minutes before Christmas, five other members of the matchday squad have also caught Manuel Pellegrini’s eye – Angelino, George Glendon, Ambrose and Celina have all been on the substitutes bench in recent weeks.
Any thoughts of a slow start were quickly banished when Dominic Solanke seized on a Bryan defensive error to fire past the helpless Angus Gunn and give the visitors the lead long before either side had the chance to settle into the freezing conditions under the floodlights.
But City refused to be daunted by a bad start and restored parity within two minutes – Barker with a fine solo effort and a fantastic finish to beat keeper Mitchell Beeney after brushing aside the attentions of Ola Aina.
Vieira’s men were in the ascendency and Ambrose had two chances to give his side the lead, but his first attempt was wayward from Barker’s throughball and Beeney was on hand to thwart the Frenchman with a good save after Chelsea had failed to clear a City corner.
Charly Musonda spurned a good chance for Chelsea, firing a free kick high over the bar from a dangerous position but the majority of the possession and chances belonged to the boys wearing sky blue and Ambrose put City deservedly ahead midway through the first period.
The Frenchman displayed his predatory instinct, latching onto a wonderful ball over the top from Pozo before firing unerringly into the back of the net, leaving the keeper Beeney grasping at thin air.
Chelsea’s stopper was in good form the for the London outfit, making a great save to deny Ambrose following good work from Barker on the left, and the keeper positioned himself perfectly to palm away a good effort from Barker himself, before Ambrose headed agonisingly over the top from close range.
The second half was light on chances with the two sides jockeying for influence in midfield and neither goalkeeper troubled until the 65 minute mark, when Barker raced through the defence but his powerful effort was just too close to Beeney, who diverted the ball to safety with a desperately trailing leg.
However, for all the dominance City had eschewed too many chances to extend the lead and were made to pay a second time by Solanke, whose deflected shot looped over Gunn and into the back of the net for the equaliser.
Aina let another good chance for the visitors fly by, poking his shot over the bar at the near post while Ruben Loftus-Cheek shot wide as Chelsea aimed to snatch a late winner.
But the night and the points belonged to City, Celina emerging from the bench to score the winner in stoppage time and send the home crowd to their feet in delight. The forward interchanged passes with Olivier Ntcham before stroking the ball home from the edge of the box to leave Chelsea with no time to reply.
It was nothing less than the EDS deserved after a dominant first half performance and three excellent goals to go with all three points to ensure that City start 2015 top of the pile.
