Man City v Chelsea – Match Preview & Your Predictions

By Billy - 20th Sep 2014, 05:45pm

Chelsea travel to the Etihad on gameweek 5 of the Premier League season for what looks like their toughest test to date.

Date: Sunday, 21st September Venue: Etihad Stadium Kick-off: 16:00 GMT TV: Sky Sports

The only team with a perfect league record so far travel to Manchester to face the Champions of last season, led by Manuel Pellegrini.

Manchester City have failed to win their last two league games and also fell to a late defeat against Bayern Munich in midweek, while Chelsea have four league wins to their name but a poor Champions League draw to go with them.

While the league cannot be won at this early stage, it can certainly be lost and Chelsea will be hoping to pick up where they left off last season against Manchester City on Sunday afternoon.

Chelsea did the league double over Pellegrini’s side last campaign, winning both games by a singular goal. They did, however, go out of the FA Cup to City last season which certainly hurt the team.

Both sides played their last league games last Saturday as Chelsea made the most of a draw between Arsenal and Manchester City to take all three points at home to Swansea City later in the day.

Mourinho made quite a name for himself last season with how he handled big clashes such as this and Chelsea didn’t lose a single match against a team that would be considered title rivals.

However, this is their first such clash this season, so Chelsea fans will be hoping to see more of the same against the fellow big boys.

Chelsea can be sure of being above City whatever the final result, but increasing an already large five point gap to an impressive eight point gap would make the rest of the league take notice of Mourinho’s men.

An interesting side note is that Chelsea could come up against club legend Frank Lampard, depending on whether or not be has asked not to play, after he moved on loan to City for six months earlier in the summer.

Mourinho reported no injury problems during his pre-match presser, and said that Diego Costa would start despite a hamstring problem. The striker will be rested in midweek against Bolton.

Diego Costa has 7 league goals in just four starts so far and has added another dimension (or two) to Chelsea’s attack which was frustratingly lackluster last season.

City are expected to reply by starting their star striker in Sergio Aguero after the Argentinian was rested in that midweek defeat to Bayern Munich.

The Champions will however be without Jovetic and Fernando due to injuy, but Zabaleta is expected to return to their starting lineup after being banned in midweek.

Chelsea have the ability to chop and change the rest of their lineup and still have a very strong outfit, but Fabregas, Matic, Hazard and Courtois are among names that can expect to start.

Filipe Luis made his full debut in midweek and impressed, so it’s a guessing game over who will start out the Brazilian, Cesar Azpilicueta and Branislav Ivanovic.

John Terry and Gary Cahill will surely start in the centre despite a few defensive troubles over the last week. Mourinho will desperately be trying to sure up his defence going into games of this magnitude.

How Chelsea will approach the game will be interesting. They often came under criticism for the very effective method of a very rigid defensive structure last season, but with the array of attacking talents available at their disposal, will we see a different system from Mourinho?

Many believe that a point would be a good result to take back to Stamford Bridge but, after last season’s corresponding result and with City in a sticky bit of form, Chelsea may well believe they can take all three points back down to London on Sunday evening.

While nothing will be decided this weekend, the game will definitely be a good indication towards which of these two sides, who will both be up there at the end of the season, looks like the strongest contender.

Whatever the result, a clash of such heavyweights will provide great entertainment (for the neutrals, anyway!)

Man City v Chelsea: Pre match facts

Chelsea have won just one and lost five of their last six meetings against Man City at the Etihad Stadium (all comps)
Eden Hazard has created the most chances (14) without recording a single assist in the Premier League this season
Manchester City have only failed to score in two of their last 71 home league games; against Stoke last time out and against Chelsea last season
Chelsea have won away from home at Manchester City more often than any other team in Barclays Premier League history (11 times)

Source: Opta

Man City v Chelsea: Predicted lineup:

Chelsea: Courtois; Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry, Azpilcueta; Matic, Ramires; Hazard, Fabregas, Willian; Costa

Your Predictions: