Recent Form
Man City enjoyed more serene progress in their midweek cup tie as League One outfit Wycombe Wanderers were swatted aside 6-1, though Chelsea certainly had the harder assignment, overcoming Aston Villa on penalties.
The Blues remain unbeaten this term, winning five of eight games in all competitions, though in league action alone, the only blemish was a stalemate against Liverpool as they went down to 10 men on the stroke of half time.
In fact, the goal they conceded on that occasion is the only one to date, with Crystal Palace, Arsenal, Aston Villa and Tottenham all beaten comfortably by an aggregate 11-0 scoreline.
Man City have been similarly miserly with their 1-0 defeat to Tottenham on the opening day the last time they conceded a league goal, though in addition to Wycombe’s consolation effort midweek, Leipzig did put three past them in a nine-goal Champions League thriller.
The attack is also looking in fantastic shape, with Pep Guardiola’s side netting at least five times in four of their last six across all competitions, though this did include matches with struggling Norwich and a 10-man Arsenal.
Chelsea are of course a different proposition to most teams and Thomas Tuchel can take encouragement from the Blues’ three head-to-heads against Man City in 2021, with his team winning them all by one-goal margins and registering two clean sheets.
That of course includes the Champions League final when these two last met, as it appears the German has his opposite number all figured out.
Chelsea Draw No Bet
Guardiola also has some selection headaches ahead of this fixture and upcoming clashes with PSG and Liverpool.
Aymeric Laporte and John Stones both remain doubts having missed recent encounters with Leipzig, Southampton and Wycombe, while they’ve been joined in the treatment room by Ilkay Gundogan, Oleksandr Zinchenko and Rodri.
The last two have some chance of featuring here, though with Benjamin Mendy suspended for the foreseeable future, Guardiola may have to switch Joao Cancelo to left-back and bring Nathan Ake into central defence.
Man City had a very unfamiliar backline of Joshua Wilson-Esbrand, Luke Mbete-Tabu, Finley Burns and Conrad Egan-Riley on display midweek, while Chelsea, though to a lesser extent, also handed rests to a number of first-team regulars.
Tuchel’s only injury concerns ahead of this fixture centres on wide man Christian Pulisic and goalkeeper Edouard Mendy, though Kepa Arrizabalaga kept a clean sheet in the latter’s absence against Tottenham last weekend and is hardly a bad deputy to have.
Elsewhere, Jorginho and Mateo Kovacic may well get the nod in the middle, with N’Golo Kante featuring in the clash with Vila on Wednesday.
PREDICTION:
CHELSEA DRAW NO BET
18+BeGambleAware
GENTING CASINO ONLY OFFERS SPORTS ARTICLES AND NOT SPORTS BETTING
