Steve Bruce had Kenny Cunningham and Mikael Forssell available again, but Robbie Savage was suspended thanks to the F.A.'s eagerness to appease one of the new managers in the game, in Jose Mourinho. Savage's place was effectively taken by Forssell, who partnered Heskey up front, leaving Damien Johnson - now a central midfielder - alongside Muzzy Izzet. Skipper Cunningham returned to the side at the expense of Martin Taylor.
Manchester City actually started the brighter, mainly due to new England sensation Shaun Wright-Phillips. The pint-sized winger totally outpaced Stan Lazaridis and his drag back was helpfully cleared from danger by his team-mate Nicolas Anelka, before Robbie Fowler hit a shot straight at Maik Taylor in the Blues goal.
After just 8 minutes though, Blues opened their Premiership account at St Andrews courtesy of their record signing Heskey's first goal for the club. Lazaridis' persistance down the left paid off, and the Australian delivered a delightful ball into the penalty box. Heskey appeared to be nudged by both Man City defenders in the area, but kept his cool and planted a magnificent header back past David James, leaving his England colleague standing.
Wright-Phillips continued his 'One Man Team' impression by testing Taylor after some neat work, but again the shot was straight at the Blues 'keeper. Fowler too, who just loves scoring against Blues, arrived on to a cross at the far post, but somehow headed very, very wide when superbly placed.
Blues were playing in fits and starts. Julian Gray and Jesper Gronkjaer were both posing threats from the flanks, but at times their play was too disjointed. Gray went close twice - perhaps highlighting his need for some finishing lessons at Wast Hills after saturday's misses too - with a header and a shot, but the side were still too lax and were allowing a poor Man City team into the game. There was a sense that taking the lead so early was a disadvantage. We now have a Blues side primed for attacking play, and therefore the typical Blues mentality of defending a one goal lead may not be as successful anymore, as the likes of Gronkjaer, Gray, Mario Melchiot, etc aren't necessarily players for that kind of game.
Anyway, Blues made it to the interval 1-0 up, without too many threats, and as the aforementioned Mr Mourinho would tell you, that's all that matters.
The start to Blues' second half was not good. The side were putting the Man City goal under a certain amount of pressure, due to some good free-kick and corner deliveries from Izzet (one corner was headed over by Forssell) and some excellent attacking by Lazaridis. However, the setback came in injuries for both Lazaridis and Heskey, within minutes of each other. Heskey's appeared to be a knock he picked up in the first half, and Lazaridis appeared to pull a thigh muscle.
Stern John replaced Heskey in a straight swap, whilst Stephen Clemence came on for Lazaridis. This meant some reorganising, as Clemence went into the middle of midfield, so guess who played left-back?! You got it... Damien Johnson! The little Northern Irish 'Jack Of All Trades' now slotted into yet another position. At Portsmouth, the right winger was a left winger. Against Chelsea, the right winger was a central midfielder with a holding role. Against Man City, the right winger was a central midfielder and a left back. Maybe one day he'll get to play right wing? In fairness, it's a credit to him that Bruce sees him as so crucial that he appears to insist that he is in the side at all times - it's also a credit that Johnson never seems to moan about it.
Blues again went close when Forssell hit an acrobatic effort that was cleared in a congested penalty area, and then John wasted a great chance when one-on-one with James. Blues were again starting to toil though, and their wastefulness in possession was allowing Man City to break - but to little effect.
In a bid to shore things up even further, Bruce threw on Olivier Tebily into the midfield, sacrificing Forssell and leaving John to play as a lone striker. Still Man City poured forward, and still they failed to test Maik Taylor at all. The closest they came was an Antoine Sibierski header that went about 20 yards wide, in front of the scarce travelling fans. The £40 being charged for a ticket no doubt put some of the Man City fans off making the trip - the money surely better spent on some tracksuit bottoms.
Blues struggled and Man City struggled and in the end, both teams finished the game playing pretty poorly. Blues had resorted to a Sven Goran Eriksson approach in defending a 1-0 lead, and got away with it because their opponents were dreadful, mainly, and because they only had one player in anything near decent form. Blues though should perhaps reconsider this approach. The players in the side now would surely be better geared for attacking opponents in search of second and third goals, rather than hanging on for dear life in games like this.