Saturday 17 February | The Etihad | 19:30
I mean, historically this was a big game…and I suppose it still is. The only difference being City are chasing serious silverware in throughout Europe and Chelsea are seemingly just about staying relevant!
To Win (90 mins)
Manchester City 7/20
Draw 42/10
Chelsea 6/1
Manchester City
Manchester City are going to take a serious amount of stopping now, especially since their attacking talisman – Erling Haaland – has seemingly regained his ability to be devastating in front of goal. We knew that when it comes to Haaland it was always only going to be a matter of time…well it hasn’t taken long, and City are all the better for it.
The one area of concern I have around City at the moment is the fact that they have a propensity to concede week in and week out. They have kept just one solitary clean sheet since the end of October, and against a Chelsea side who take a while to get themselves into the game – there could finally be a change for Pep Guardiola’s chargers.
You look at that City side, when they are in full flow, they are scarily good! They have a diverse attacking threat upfront and although they leak goals, and their defensive players aren’t exactly shooting the lights out – but I have little to no confidence around this Chelsea side.
Chelsea
The absolute kings of inconsistency and every punter’s single most frustrating source of diabolical football at the best of times hails from Stamford Bridge. I know that sentence was clumsy, but goodness me I cannot for the life of me show this Chelsea side even an iota of respect or decency!
They have been so poor when it counts so far this season, they get a result in the FA Cup but on either side of that is the inability to knock over Wolves void of its best players! I know they manages to get a result against Palace (well, just about) but I can’t see where on the field they can hurt City.
I know that games like this often present the so-called underdog with an opportunity, but I don’t think Chelsea have what is necessary to extract something from this City side.
There is absolutely no way of telling what sort of performance Chelsea will register on Saturday evening, they could get binned or rely on the heroics of the likes of Palmer and Gallagher and remain relevant for 90 minutes…
Prediction: City (-1) Handicap (9/10)
The betting prices will tell you everything you need to know about this fixture. There are only three possible outcomes, City win, Chelsea win or it ends in a draw…and one of those is priced up nearly at 7/1!
I can’t see past a City win, I would go as far as to say that I think the game will be rather straightforward.
@Mr_R_Liberty