Man City’s England midfielder Foden is one to watch tomorrow. — Reuters
MANCHESTER City are clear favourites to triumph when Chelsea visit the Etihad Stadium in tomorrow’s late kick-off.
Pep Guardiola’s Citizens, who were held to a draw by gutsy Sunderland in midweek, look far too good for the Blues who parted ways with Enzo Maresca two days ago.
Chelsea are a side laden with enormous individual talent but have been just too inconsistent – and are now without a manager.
Reports have it that Willy Caballero has taken over temporarily after Maresca’s departure.
Man City are England’s in-form team. They chalked up 11 straight wins across all competitions prior to their visit to Sunderland and are unbeaten in 22 Premier League home games at the Etihad.
By any stretch that’s good football, but from a side like Man City, that makes it a little scarier.
Chelsea should know. City have won six of their last eight home league meetings against the Blues, with five clean sheets thrown in.
Man City are at last beginning to look like the unit that secured four league crowns in a row prior to Liverpool’s domination last season.
To be clear, Guardiola has won the English Premier League on six occasions since he arrived in Manchester in February 2016.
Man City have won it eight times in 14 years.
And again, the Manchester outfit will look to the likes of Erling Haaland, Phil Foden, Bernardo Silva, Tijjani Reijnders, Jeremy Doku and Ruben Dias to deliver the goods.
For their part, Chelsea will do well to emerge from the Etihad with something to show for their journey up from London – even a draw would be considered a decent result.
But they have been too inconsistent all season to frighten Man City simply by showing up.
Theirs have been big swings in performance, exhibiting sublime form only to follow it with shifts that rank really poorly.
Still, City would be well advised to note that when Chelsea get in the mood, they can be awfully difficult to beat, and complacency in the opposition could be fatal.
Massive wins over Liverpool and Barcelona underscore the threat Chelsea pose in attack, and that’s what City will want to keep a wary eye on.
Man City’s home dominance is likely to continue should they control the game with their expected superior possession and blunt Chelsea’s attacking threat.
Indeed, City’s approach will be predictable in structure but unpredictable in execution, and that is what makes Guardiola’s side so tough to stop.
The Spaniard is likely to employ a 4 4 2 mid-block, a shape that has worked well for him, and something Chelsea will aim to counter by overloading the flanks.
City’s block is essentially designed to force play wide, trap the ball near the touchline and win it back with aggressive counter pressing when they do lose it.
And therein lies their biggest strength: effective positional rotations, with the midfield constantly shifting between the half spaces.
Chelsea’s young, energetic midfield are likely to struggle to track these rotations for 90 minutes.
But despite this, Chelsea can cause problems – and big ones at that. They have a pacey frontline that could exploit the home side’s flaws.
Man City have conceded in 11 of their last 13 league games and know well enough that their press can be bypassed if you break the first line.
Thus, if Chelsea can transition quickly through Cole Palmer, Enzo Fernandez, Joao Pedro and Moises Caicedo, the Citizens could find themselves on the back foot.
So, while Man City are favourites to march to a 23rd home game on the trot without defeat, Chelsea remain a deadly threat.
