Manchester City vs Chelsea - Competition: English Premier League, Matchday 5
Man City
enter this match having not won a game for nearly a month. A shock 1:0
defeat at home to Stoke City will have Manuel Pelligrini scratching his
head, a 2:2 draw at Arsenal was a solid result, but defeat came again in
the form of a stern Bayern Munich side over the midweek. City held
strong in that contest and were perhaps a bit unfortunate to not come
away with at least a point. But so goes the unforgiving sport of
football, and the Citizens will need to quickly forget their recent woes
quickly for a critically-important match-up with Chelsea FC. These clubs are the two league favorites to claim the English Premier League
crown, and the players know that defeat here at the Etihad Stadium
would be a massive detriment to their title defence. They will take
confidence in the fact that they are unbeaten in 28 of their last 31 Premier League matches,
but one of those defeats came at the hands of the Blues just last
season. Branislav Ivanovic netted the lone-goal match winner in that
meeting, and the Citizens will need to be wise to the Serbian, who is
perhaps the best right-back in all of England. But the visitors have so
many weapons, and if the hosts hope to claim a victory here, they’ll
need Sergio Aguero to be in highlight form.
Chelsea team saw their 4-match winning streak
snapped over the midweek in the Champions League, getting upset on home
turf by Schalke (1:1). It’s exactly the thing that worries their fans
over recent memory, as the Blues tend to overlook opponents they’re
supposed to beat. To be fair to Schalke, they played an extraordinary
match, but the Blues arguably have no holes in their team in terms of
squad depth and talent. Manager Jose Mourinho will demand a strong response in their return to league play, and the boys will be bolstered by the return of Diego Costa to the starting line-up.
In last season’s trip to the Etihad Stadium, the visitors claimed all 3
points in shutout fashion, and they’ll be confident of doing so here
once again. However, playmaker Cesc Fabregas and Diego Costa, the two
main catalysts this season in Chelsea’s surge, will find that Man City
are no picnic with the likes of Yaya Toure and Vincent Kompany hounding
the two all day long. We do expect them to break through the City
defence once or twice in an entertaining affair, but knowing Jose
Mourinho, he’ll prefer to play for the away draw than to risk it all and
go for the win in the event the match stays tight into the second half.
Match date: Sunday, 21 September 2014
Kick Off Time: 16:00 BST - 15:00 GMT
Venue: Etihad Stadium, Manchester, United Kingdom
Kick Off Time: 16:00 BST - 15:00 GMT
Venue: Etihad Stadium, Manchester, United Kingdom
