Chelsea's Michael Ballack Warns Of Manchester City Threat

EPL: Michael Ballack, Chelsea - Burnley (PA)

Chelsea's Michael Ballack claims the blue half of Manchester could pose as great a threat to the London club's title hopes as their Red Devil neighbours.



United cut Chelsea's Premier League lead to two points on Saturday thanks to the latter's 2-1 defeat by Manchester City, who lay a further nine points back in sixth place after a recent run of draws.

“We respect every team behind us and we lost against a strong team,” the German international told The Times.
“It looks like they are ready to fight for the title. I don’t know what their target is but they showed today that they have a good team and with a bit of luck they can beat teams like us.
"They have spent a lot of money and they have a lot of good players so it is not a surprise.”
However, the midfielder still felt his side could easily have won Saturday's game after taking the lead just eight minutes in thanks to Emmanuel Adebayor's own goal.
Adebayor made amends before half time and Carlos Tevez scored the winner after 56 minutes, but Ballack echoed Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti in pointing to the decisions of referee Howard Webb in the build-up to both City goals.
“If you put a lot of effort into the game, and two strong teams are playing each other, it sometimes comes down to a few decisions [by the referee],” said Ballack.
“But you have to accept it."
“You have the benefit of slow motion so you can imagine what our opinion is (about the alleged Richards handball) but you can’t change it.
"The referee took the decision and it is football.
"I didn’t see the incident that led to the free kick [for Tévez’s goal] but it decided the game.”
Leaders Chelsea have now lost three games already this season, all away from home, but Ballack denies they are susceptible on their travels.
He added: "We bounced back after defeats to Wigan and Aston Villa and we must do it again.
“We could have got a draw if we had scored the penalty Frank [Lampard] had saved, and that would have been a good away result.
"Even after that, Didier Drogba had a good chance to equalise as well so we have to take some positives from the game.
“We have played a lot of good games away. At home we are very strong. There is not a weakness.”