Man City 5 Chelsea 3: Nasri and Co star in another US thriller

                     

Playing in the world’s most famous ball park, Manchester City and Chelsea ended their brief visit to America by providing their audience with a baseball score.

Having scored seven times between them in St Louis on Thursday – City winning that game 4-3 – this time the two English teams came up with one more. City it was who won again but those who braved a rather chilly night in the Bronx will have cared more for the entertainment.

If football – or soccer – is ever to take a real hold in America then this is the type of game that will help. They don’t like goalless draws over there so it was little surprise that another high-scoring game was greeted so rapturously.

                          

Manchester City named a strong XI, with perhaps the only surprise coming in the form of Derdyrck Boyata's inclusion in the starting line-up, while Chelsea opted for less experience as youngsters Andreas Christensen, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Nathan Ake were all afforded starts.

                                  

City opened the scoring after just three minutes thanks to a shocking error from Oscar; the Brazilian was ridiculously lax in possession, gifting the ball straight to Sergio Aguero in front of Chelsea's goal. The striker failed to capitalise but succeeded in forcing a save from Hilario, allowing for Barry to tap home and open the scoring.

                              

City continued to threaten after their opener and it was not long before they extended the lead; was an immaculate finish from Nasri after he was put through on goal by David Silva. The Frenchman duly took the Spaniard's deft pass into his stride before lifting the ball over the Chelsea keeper.

                                 

                      

                          

Luiz, Oscar and Torres all wasted chances as Chelsea mounted a response before the interval, culminating in Ake hitting the bar from distance with the last kick of the half.

Their pressure told in the second half as, within a minute, after Ramires was put through by his compatriot Luiz, the Brazilian rounded substitute goalkeeper Richard Wright with consummate ease before tucking home to make it 2-1.

                          

As the relentless pace of the game refused to let up, City responded almost instantaneously with a wonderfully worked goal, instigated by a driving run from Jack Rodwell. The midfielder played the ball infield to Milner who, after a delightful exchange with substitute Edin Dzeko, slammed the ball into the far corner with some style.

                        

With almost 20 minutes remaining, the Blues managed to pull another goal back and once again, it came through the lively Ramires. After Mata fed Torres in the area, the Spaniard shimmied his way past Lescott before finding the Brazilian at the far post with a smart cross that the midfielder converted with ease.

                         

                         

The pace of the game began to tell in the closing stages and Nasri was there to capitalise on some suspect Chelsea defending, waltzing his way past Christensen and Ake after a clever one-two with Dzeko before clipping the ball over Cech beautifully.

                             

Mata ensured that the goals did not end there as, after Ramires was brought down on the edge of the area, the Spaniard swung a delightful free kick into the top corner.

That majestic finish transpired to be little other than consolation though as Dzeko, once again, finished off the contest with a fine strike from distance, albeit one that Cech should have done better with.

                           

On a cold night, this was just the sort of game the crowd of 39,462 needed. There is a genuine enthusiasm for football in that part of New York and the stadium could well be New York City’s temporary home when the club formed by City and the Yankees begin life in the MLS two years from now.