Chelsea welcome Manchester City to Stamford Bridge in a blockbuster Thursday Night Football encounter.
Victory by two goals or more would see Chelsea climb to seventh, whilst a win would see second-placed Man City move to within five points of league leaders, Arsenal.
Team News
Ben Chilwell and Ruben Loftus-Cheek could return for Chelsea after recovering from respective hamstring and calf injuries.
Edouard Mendy (shoulder), N’Golo Kante (hamstring), Reece James, Wesley Fofana and Armando Broja (all knee) remain absent.
Man City could hand Julian Alvarez his first start since returning to the club after being allowed time off, following Argentina’s World Cup success.
Aymeric Laporte (back) is a doubt after he missed their New Year’s Eve draw against Everton but Ruben Dias (hamstring) remains absent.
Stat Attack
- Chelsea have won just two of their last seven meetings against Manchester City (W2, L5).
- Man City have won three of their last five visits to Stamford Bridge (W3, L2).
- City won each of their last two league meetings against Chelsea by 1-0 result.
- Chelsea have lost each of their matches against top-three teams entering this matchweek (L2), which saw them lose 1-0 to Arsenal and Newcastle in November 2022.
- 13 of Erling Haaland’s 21 league goals for City this season were scored on his left foot.
Prediction
With the race for European qualification looking incredibly tight at present, this is a must-win for Chelsea after a wasteful performance in their draw at Nottingham Forest where their end product let them down in an otherwise decent display.
Man City meanwhile will be eager to react to Arsenal’s slip-up with an improved performance after themselves were wasteful against Everton at the weekend, which was deservedly punished with awful marking of Demarai Gray’s equaliser.
Both teams therefore have work to do in their respective battles but if Chelsea continue to fail to take their chances here, I can see City seriously punishing them if can work out how to make Haaland difficult again for defenders to handle.
Prediction: Chelsea 0-2 Manchester City
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