“If man City mistakenly come to the Bridge, Chelsea will beat them by…. scoreline on Saturday” – Chelsea star warns j grealish and E Haaland how many goals Mykhailo Mudryk and Jackson will hit pass ederson at Stamford Bridge
Chelsea and Manchester City, England’s two most successful clubs this Millennium with 20 and 18 major trophies respectively, meet this weekend in a top-billed Premier League clash at Stamford Bridge.
This is the second time the Blues have played host in the 4.30pm Sunday slot, and the first since the opening weekend in August.
Mauricio Pochettino’s side have had a clear week since trashing Tottenham’s unbeaten run on Monday; on Tuesday, the Citizens enjoyed an easy 3-0 win at home to Young Boys in the Champions League. The international break follows this game.
Pep Guardiola once said there are teams that wait for you and teams that look for you; Pochettino’s team looks for you. The two coaches have locked horns many times, Poch’s first ever victory as a coach being 2-1 in a bottom-beats-top Barcelona derby in February 2009.
The maiden win of his Southampton days was against Man City in 2013; Spurs delivered Guardiola’s first loss as the Citizens’ boss; and Paris Saint-Germain beat the Mancunians in the pair’s penultimate meeting during the 2021/22 Champions League group stage. Overall, though, the City coach has the upper hand with 13 wins from 22 encounters.
No current Chelsea squad player has scored for us against the Citizens in the top flight, but in-form Raheem Sterling and Cole Palmer are facing their former club.
Pochettino’s young side will be all the stronger for coming out of the chaos and emotion of a big derby occasion much better than the confident, experienced hosts. But against Sunday’s blink-and-you’re-dead opponents they cannot afford to start as sloppily as they did at Tottenham.
Enzo Fernandez hopefully suffered no serious effects from international team-mate Cristian Romero’s reckless challenge just as the midfield chemistry with Moises Caicedo and the more advanced Conor Gallagher has started to bubble nicely. Between them, the trio gained almost 600 yards’ ground towards Spurs’ goal with their incisive passing. Should Enzo not make it, Lesley Ugochukwu is the natural replacement. Gallagher has won possession in the final third 18 times, more than anyone across Europe’s top five leagues.
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