Etihad will see an exciting matchup this Saturday as Manchester City hosts Frank Lampard’s Chelsea at 18:30 CET.
Manchester City will be happy with the international break, as it looks like it arrived exactly at the right moment. The most recent loss to Liverpool saw the Citizens fall down to fourth, trailing nine points behind the league leaders. Pep Guardiola’s team lost a bit of control that they had in the previous seasons, as the home side lost three matches already – just one less than in the entire last season. The team is struggling with injuries, too. Aymeric Laporte and Leroy Sane are out of action for a while, and now Oleksandr Zinchenko and Ederson joined them in the medical department.
Firing front and lacking protection
Bright spots of Pep’s side this season include Sergio Aguero and Raheem Sterling, who keep scoring at will. The new signing, Rodri, is fitting into the team perfectly. However, constant injuries and instability in the defensive department caused a lot of blunders which saw them conceded 13 goals in 12 matches, with Sheffield United, Liverpool, Leicester, and even Manchester United conceding less.
On the other hand, the atmosphere at Stamford Bridge is as good as it gets in recent months. After taking over at Chelsea, the club legend Frank Lampard brought a positive impulse almost immediately. The team made constant progress this season, resulting in five consecutive Premier League wins and climbing to the third in the league table, eight points behind Liverpool, and two ahead of City.
Power of youth
The youngsters look like they’re ready to go all the way. Mason Mount and Tammy Abraham started off the season strongly, and now Christian Pulisic and Callum Hudson-Odoi joined in to make for the most exciting team in the league. Abraham specifically is the second-best goalscorer in the league with 10 goals to his name. Kurt Zouma made a lot of positive progress since the beginning of the season, and Fikayo Tomori made Andreas Christensen and Antonio Rudiger’s absence unknown.
This is a match that’s promising a lot of fun and attacking football, as both teams are leaking behind, with some of the best firing squads in Europe upfront. The Blues’ youngsters will be determined to prove that they can handle the current champions, while City’s machine is eager to show that they are still the best England’s got to offer.
Hosts couldn’t keep a clean sheet in all of their last four matches. This, combined with Chelsea’s consistent high-scoring matches promises a lot of goals with an unpredictable winner at the end.
Prediction: Over 2.5 goals. Make sure to bet on Manchester City vs Chelsea with 22Bet!
