Chelsea moved back to within two points of Liverpool at the summit of the Premier League table by beating 10-man Swansea City 1-0 at the Liberty Stadium today.
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Demba Ba's winner midway through the second half proved enough for the Blues to down Swansea, who played some 74 minutes with ten men following the dismissal of Chico Flores.
Prior to the Spaniard's dismissal, both outfits had good opportunities to open the scoring early in the encounter.
Mohamed Salah should have fired the visitors into a fifth-minute lead after wandering into the area unmarked before dragging Branislav Ivanovic's cut-back pass wide of the mark.
At the other end, Wilfried Bony latched to Angel Rangel's upfield cross, only to watch Petr Cech tip his goal-bound header over the bar.
Flores was soon given his marching orders by referee Phil Dowd for two bookings in as many minutes for challenges on Willian and Andre Schurrle respectively.
Despite their numerical disadvantage, Garry Monk's men proved a stubborn opposition as the West Londoners' tried in vain to capitalise on their advantage.
Samuel Eto'o could, and perhaps should, have broken the deadlock shortly before the hour mark after firing a half-volley wide of the post from inside the box.
Minutes later, Wayne Routledge galloped through the heart of the Blues' defence before thrashing narrowly wide the mark from a good position.
However, City's resistance waned and Ba broke it on 68 minute by running at defender Ashley Williams before burying his effort beneath the body of goalkeeper Michel Vorm.
Salah and Eto'o both had chances to put the game beyond doubt in the closing ten minutes, but the misses were rendered academic by the sound of the final whistle soon after as Jose Mourinho's side keep the pressure on the Reds.
Shane Callaghan
