A big night of English Premier League football is on the cards at the Etihad this weekend. It is indeed Super Sunday in England with last season’s Premier League Champions Chelsea visiting this season’s league leaders and probable champions Manchester City.
Both team are in contrasting form with City looking near about perfect while Chelsea are struggling to patch together a decent run of games. The Blues have lost three of their last four games while City have lost just one game in their entire domestic league campaign this season.
Chelsea visited Manchester last week as well but their welcome was marred by a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Jose Mourinho’s Manchester United and City will now be hoping to send Chelsea back to London without a single point on their Manchester trip.
As for Chelsea, there is growing pressure on Antonio Conte’s men to turn things around otherwise the Blues boss will risk losing his job. He will be looking at the Manchester City game as an ideal situation to send across a message of his calibre to the Chelsea hierarchy.
Team News
Kyle Walker could be missing out after limping off in the latter stages of the league match against Arsenal mid-week. Fernandinho who had to go off with an injury in the Carabao Cup final against Arsenal might also be missing from action. Leroy Sane has completed a speedy recovery and could once again be seen. Gabriel Jesus has completed his recovery and could be seen on the pitch as well with Raheem Sterling a doubt for the match. Benjamin Mendy remains a long-term absentee with Fabian Delph banned for the match.
Chelsea have confirmed that Ross Barkley has stepped up his recovery and could be in contention for today’s match. David Luiz remains ruled out for Chelsea alongside Ethan Ampadu and Tiemoue Bakayoko.
Predicted Line-Ups
Manchester City: Ederson, Danilo, Nicolas Otamendi, Aymeric Laporte, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Ilkay Gundogan, David Silva, Kevin De Bruyne, Leroy Sane, Gabriel Jesus, Bernardo Silva
Chelsea: Thibaut Courtois, Cesar Azpilicueta, Andreas Christensen, Antonio Rudiger, Marcos Alonso, Victor Moses, Danny Drinkwater, N’Golo Kante, Cesc Fabregas, Eden Hazard, Olivier Giroud
Key Men
For Manchester City, it will be Chelsea’s old boy Kevin De Bruyne who will be the man to keep an eye out for. It was his goal that settled the affair last time and De Bruyne will be hoping for a repeat performance.
Chelsea ace Eden Hazard will have to be the main man for the Blues as he will look to add some much-needed guile and finesse to the Chelsea attack.
Odds
Manchester City Win- 4/7
Draw- 10/3
Chelsea Win- 21/4
