After a lightning start to the 2014-15 Premier League season, it looked like Chelsea were going to blow Manchester City’s title defense out of the water before it had even started.
It was hardly a surprise to Manuel Pellegrini that Chelsea would come out with all guns blazing. Jose Mourinho had been talking up the Blues’ chances of taking the title even before their opening game away at newly promoted Burnley.
Betting sites in Australia are not usually wrong, and must have been in agreement with Mourinho’s opinion on the matter judging by their odds.
The Demise of the "Usual Contenders"
One of the unexpected surprises for City during the early part of the season was Liverpool’s rapid demise after such a strong finish in last season’s campaign. It is probably fair to say that Liverpool’s title challenge was well and truly dead within the first few months of the season’s curtain raiser.
While Liverpool was mourning the loss of Luis Suarez (after gauging himself at the World Cup in Brazil), City was desperately trying to prevent Chelsea from opening up an insurmountable gap at the Premier League summit.
If Liverpool’s lack of challenge was surprising, many people were astounded by the lack of consistency displayed across the city at Old Trafford.
The new Louis Van Gaal reign promised so much at Manchester United before the season started and this belief strengthened as he was allowed to splash the cash and spend millions of pounds on fresh talent.
Solid Silva Performances Are the Key to City’s Success
However as 2014 drew to a close, Manchester City decided it was about time that they actually kick-started a serious assault on their title retention.
David Silva was starting to fire on all cylinders as the Christmas period approached, and fired in a brace against struggling Crystal Palace as City swept them aside at the Etihad just days before Christmas.
Silva followed this with another goal away to West Brom, helping City to secure another vital three points away at The Hawthorns.
It seemed like his goal scoring touch had returned with a vengeance, as another Silva goal put the blue half of Manchester into would looked like a potential goal feast at home to Burnley. In the end Burnley fought back in the game and City were only able to take a point from the game.
Nevertheless, Chelsea was only able to draw with Southampton on the same day they didn’t lose any ground.
Closing the Gap
New Year’s Day saw a surprise defeat for Chelsea against Tottenham Hotspur, and a narrow win for City against Sunderland. This meant Manchester City had reached the premier league summit once again.
By January 1st, they had equalled Chelsea’s points total, as well as having the same goal difference and scoring and conceding the same number of goals. In fact, the only way of separating the two sides was by alphabetical order.
David Silva had weaved his magic over the Christmas period, and helped steer Manchester City right back into the title race.
With the league once again looking promising, he also helped City to progress past Sheffield Wednesday in the FA Cup by providing the assists for both goals in their third round victory.
It looks as though Silva could be looking to cement City’s challenge during the rest of February. City once again have shown their intent, having recently added Wilfried Bony from Swansea to bolster their already formidable looking attacking line up.
With the champions drawing at Chelsea at the end of January, perhaps Silva will inspire a City team to victory at for the remainder of the season.
It could be a successful start to the season which in the end proves to be the golden moment in turning Manchester City’s season into another trophy laden success story.
