After cruising through their first five games of the season, Chelsea were confronted with their first real test of the Premier League season so far as they faced Manchester City at Eastlands on Saturday- a test that they failed as Chelsea were deservedly beaten 1-0 by Roberto Mancini’s side. Here’s 5 things we leant from Chelsea’s disappointing result from the weekend.

1. Chelsea miss Frank Lampard

Frank Lampard has been an integral part of Chelsea’s midfield for many years and on Saturday his presence was sorely missed. Lampard’s creativity and incision would have provided Chelsea with a genuine attacking threat that was glaringly absent from midfield.

Ancelotti decided to play a midfield trio of Michael Essien, John Obi Mikel and Ramires who posed little threat to City’s defence. Essien had a rare off-day in Chelsea blue and his impact was limited to a handful of errant long-range strikes. Mikel was his usual reliable self but failed to dictate the play like many Chelsea fans would like to see him do.

If Lampard was fit, it would have reduced the onus on Essien to be the affecter in Chelsea’s midfield. While Essien’s shots failed to threaten Joe Hart in City’s goal, it may have been different if it was Lampard striking the ball instead of Essien.

2. Ramires needs time to adapt

Chelsea fans need to give Ramires some time to adapt to the pace of the Premier League. He looked somewhat overwhelmed by the physicality of the Manchester City players and was caught in possession on many occasions, most notably for Carlos Tevez’s decisive goal. He needs to realise that he won’t be given as much time on the ball than he has been used to in Portugal and Brazil but he has all of the tools to be a success and should be given time to adjust to the speed of the league.

He showed glimpses of his talents with a few incisive runs that had the City defenders on their toes but he will be looking to show signs of improvement for Chelsea’s next Premier League game against Arsenal in a week’s time.

3. Drogba shouldn’t be taking corners

Call me old fashioned but what on earth are Chelsea thinking of letting their centre-forward and arguably biggest threat from a set-piece take their corners? There’s no disputing that Didier Drogba can deliver a good cross but surely he would be better served inside the box getting on the end of crosses rather than on the sideline putting them in. Florent Malouda has shown that he can take a good corner and Carlo Ancelotti should let his winger take them instead of Drogba.