- Date: Saturday February 17 – 17:30 GMT
- Location: Etihad Stadium, Manchester
- Teams: Manchester City vs Chelsea
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City look to kick on against unpredictable Chelsea
Manchester City look to push on in their quest to retain their Premier League crown and secure an unprecedented fourth successive English top-flight title. Chelsea have a talented squad and are capable of giving anyone a hard game. As was proved in a thrilling draw with City at Stamford Bridge earlier in the season. However, they have, so far lacked consistency and need to put a run of results together to climb the table.
Manchester City
City appear to have recaptured their consistency and have been boosted by the return to fitness of Kevin de Bruyne and Erling Haaland. City are favourites for the Premier League, which would bring them a record fourth successive title.They are also favourites for the Champions League and the FA Cup which would bring an unprecedented “double treble”. They followed up a 2-0 home win over Everton last weekend with an away win over FC Copenhagen in the first leg of their last 16 Champions League tie.
City defender Josko Gvardiol has an ankle ligament injury and is ruled out for about two or three weeks. Jack Grealish (muscle), Bernardo Silva (ankle), Mateo Kovacic (knee) and Sergio Gomez (unspecified) all face fitness tests ahead of kickoff.
How will Man City do this season? Looking to bet on them winning the Premier League? Think they can do the treble again? Check out our blog.
Chelsea
As was the case last season, Chelsea are underachieving given the talent available in their expensively assembled squad. On their day they are capable of beating anybody, however, they are still struggling to string positive results together. They have a the EFL Cup FInal against Liverpool next weekend and face Leeds United in the FA Cup after a highly impressive win over Aston Villa at Villa Park. They need, however, to get a run together in the league in order to climb the table. A 3-1 win over Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park was a step in the right direction. And as tough a task as they face travelling to the Etihad, they will take heart from their performance against City earlier in the season.
Benoit Badiashile (groin) is out for a month, Wesley Fofana, Robert Sanchez (both knee), Marc Cucurella (ankle), Reece James, Romeo Lavia and Lesley Ugochukwu (all hamstring) also miss out. Thiago Silva was forced off against Palace with a groin injury and faces a fitness test. Levi Colwill is in contention to return to partner Axel Disasi in the centre of defence.
Prediction
Chelsea have had a good season in the domestic cups so far, while their league campaign has, to date, flattered to deceive. They are capable of going to any ground and coming away with a positive result, however, this is not happening often enough for a club with Chelsea’s ambitions and a squad with, on paper, as much quality.
Etihad Stadium, Manchester
However, Manchester City are an extremely good side, quite probably one of the best English sides of all time. They are particularly strong at home. A trip to the Etihad is as difficult an away day as there is and any team in the word would go into the match as second favourites. We think that City will come away with the win.
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