CHELSEA'S title hopes suffered a huge setback as they stumbled to their first home defeat of the season and ended the game with only nine men.

The Blues were made to pay for a shambolic second half in which first Juliano Belletti was sent off for upending Gareth Barry in the box, then Michael Ballack was given a second yellow for an ugly foul on Carlos Tevez.

Tevez had the last laugh, scoring twice, once from the spot. Craig Bellamy also netted twice in breakaway attacks after the interval as the Blues imploded.

A late penalty from Frank Lampard – who had given Chelsea a 42 nd minute lead – was scant consolation.

The Blues' quest to reopen a four point lead at the top of table was almost forgotten amid the furore surrounding the presence of John Terry and Wayne Bridge on the same pitch.

Bridge was booed by Chelsea fans even before he opted not to shake Terry's hand before the start when the two teams made the usual formal pre-match introductions. They inevitably also voiced loud support for their captain – who was making his 300 th top flight appearance.

But in the end, the football just about eclipsed the sub-plots. After a rather forgettable first 42 minutes, Lampard crisply turned in a Joe Cole pass for his 14 th goal of the season, but in stoppage time, Tevez made the most of a John Obi Mikel's misplaced backheader to equalise.

The Argentinian raced at a retreating defence and flummoxed Terry before rolling a shot across Henrique Hilario that crept into the far corner of the net.

And City hit the Blues on the break to steal into a 51 st minute lead when Craig Bellamy scampered from half way onto a pass from Barry and skirted around Mikel before firing past the questionably placed Hilario.

The keeper – in for the injured Peter Cech - was hogging his near post rather than narrowing the angle and might also have done better with the opening goal.

Tevez made it 3-1 from the spot and Bellamy touched in a Wright-Phillips cross for the fourth.