Team
news, stats and prediction ahead of Man City vs Chelsea in the Premier
League on Saturday; kick-off 12.30pm.
Team news
Leaders Manchester City could again be without several players for the
Premier League visit of Chelsea after suffering further cases of coronavirus
this week.
Ederson, Raheem Sterling, Phil Foden, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Fernandinho, John
Stones and Jack Grealish all missed last week's FA Cup win at Swindon but
the club have not confirmed exactly who has tested positive. They have also
not said who the new cases are, nor who is now negative.
Riyad Mahrez is a definite absentee as he is away with Algeria at the Africa
Cup of Nations.
Andreas Christensen will miss out for Chelsea after testing positive for
Covid-19.
The Blues will hope Thiago Silva and N'Golo Kante can start, having returned
to the bench for Wednesday's Carabao Cup semi-final second leg at Tottenham
after their own Covid isolation.
Trevoh Chalobah (hamstring), Ben Chilwell (knee) and Reece James (hamstring)
are longer-term absentees, while Edouard Mendy is at the Africa Cup of
Nations.
Jones Knows prediction
This should be a captivating encounter, albeit a low scoring one, if my
maths and equations are correct.
Manchester City are roaring away towards the Premier League title, winning
their last 11 league matches and scoring 33 goals in the process. Odds of
4/6 with Sky Bet for a home win are likely to tempt many in. Not me though.
Race for the Premier League top four examined
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Chelsea have proven that their winter wobble was just that, a wobble.
Since the 40th minute of their 2-2 draw with Liverpool, Thomas Tuchel has
got his team functioning like a well-oiled machine again. Tuchel had got the
better of Man City on the last three occasions before the 1-0 defeat at
Stamford Bridge earlier this season. In the four meetings between Pep
Guardiola's City and Tuchel's Chelsea only six goals have been scored.
Low-scoring matches are a common denominator when it comes to Tuchel and
important football matches.
In 19 such fixtures (Champions League knockouts, cup semi-finals and finals
and top-four clashes in the Premier League) the average total match goals
stands at just 1.6 goals with only two of those 19 going over the 2.5 goals
line.
And despite City's excellent overall goalscoring record, my brain is quick
to remind me that in their last two Premier League matches, their attacking
process has looked quite rusty. Against Brentford (1.04) and Arsenal (1.15)
they posted their third and fourth lowest non-penalty expected goals figures
of the season and were very fortunate to steal three points off the Gunners.
That nagging doubt about their chance creation ability against a tight
defence like Chelsea's only adds fuel to a goal-shy encounter.
Therefore, I was surprised to see the under 2.5 goals trading at Evens with
Sky Bet.
SCORE PREDICTION: 1-1
Opta stats
Chelsea won this exact fixture 2-1 last season, last winning consecutive
away league games against Man City during a run of four between 2005 and
2008.
This will be the 50th Premier League meeting between Man City and Chelsea;
City won just three of their first 25 against Chelsea (D4 L18) but have
since won 12 of the last 24 (D3 L9).
This is just the second ever Premier League meeting between Manchester City
and Chelsea as the top two sides in the division. The other came in January
2015, with second placed City earning a 1-1 draw at league leaders Chelsea.
Manchester City have won their last 11 Premier League games, their fifth
such run of 11+ consecutive victories in the competition. Three of their
previous four such runs have been ended in a home match - 1-2 vs West Ham in
September 2015, 2-2 vs Spurs in August 2019 and 0-2 vs Man Utd in March
2021.
Chelsea have lost just one of their last 15 Premier League games (W8 D6),
going down 3-2 at West Ham in December. However, the Blues have picked up
just one win from their last five league games (D4), throwing away a lead in
two of those four draws.
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