Preview: Manchester City vs Chelsea – prediction, team news, line-ups

Following a memorable European success on Wednesday, Manchester City return to the Premier League on Sunday to meet Chelsea at the Etihad Stadium. Chelsea fans looking to attend this game or their next game in Manchester (against Manchester United) can find Chelsea FC tickets easily. Our recommendation is to keep an eye on tickets for the final game of the season as well, given that it’s a home game.

Man City thumped reigning Champions League holders Real Madrid 4-0 in the return leg of their semi-final tie to book a final date against Serie A heavyweights Inter Milan.

Pep Guardiola’s high-flyers are only three wins away from replicating Manchester United’s treble from 1999 and becoming only the second English side to achieve this feat.

Victory on Sunday will seal a third consecutive Premier League title for the first time in the club’s history, and given Chelsea’s nightmarish season, that’s somewhat expected.

After beating Bournemouth 3-1 on their most recent league travel, the Blues rekindled old habits, drawing 2-2 at home against relegation-battling Nottingham Forest last weekend.

Encouragingly for caretaker manager Frank Lampard, he’s gone unbeaten in his last two games in charge of Chelsea after losing six in a row at the start of his interim tenure.

But unless he can guide the Pensioners to all three wins down the final stretch and Fulham lose their remaining two, the London powerhouse will have to settle for a first bottom-half finish since 1996. 

Match Preview

Manchester City

Inspired by Ilkay Gundogan’s stunning brace, Man City thrashed Everton 3-0 on the road last weekend, making it 11 straight Premier League wins to move within touching distance of another title.

Back to the Etihad, where they’ve tallied a whopping 59 Premier League goals this season, the Cityzens are looking to hit a 60-goal milestone for the third time.

Chelsea’s visit could work in their favour, considering Guardiola’s men have beaten the Blues in all three competitive clashes this term and could become only the second side to do it four times in one season. 

In the Premier League alone, they’ve emerged 1-0 victors in the last three meetings with Chelsea, but they’ve never triumphed in four successive H2Hs before. 

Chelsea

Since lifting the 2020/21 Champions League trophy at Man City’s expense, Lampard’s lads have lost all five encounters against them in all competitions without scoring. 

Speaking of scoring, goals have been at a premium for Chelsea this season, with only three teams netting fewer Premier League goals in 2022/23 than the Blues (36).

Indeed, they have averaged one goal per game across their 17 league travels this season, which spells trouble as they bid to end a 14-game winless run against sides starting above them in the table (D4, L10).

But with three of Chelsea’s last four Premier League away fixtures featuring an identical 3-1 scoreline (W2, L2), connoisseurs of action-packed football should enjoy Sunday’s showdown.

Team News

Man City boss Guardiola can call upon his entire squad for this game, barring Nathan Ake, who’s still out with a muscle injury, though he may rotate his line-up this weekend.

After a physically and emotionally intense Champions League night, Jack Grealish and Bernardo Silva may give their places in the starting XI to the likes of Phil Foden and Riyad Mahrez.

On the other hand, Chelsea will take this trip without several high-profile first-team members, including Reece James, Kalidou Koulibaly and Ben Chilwell.

Mason Mount, N’Golo Kante and Marc Cucurella will likely stay on the sidelines, but Lampard can still choose between plenty of options to replace them.

Manchester City vs Chelsea Potential Line-ups

Manchester City (3-2-4-1): Ederson; Ruben Dias, Kyle Walker, Manuel Akanji; Rodri, John Stones; Riyad Mahrez, Ilkay Gundogan, Kevin De Bruyne, Phil Foden; Erling Haaland.

Chelsea (4-3-3): Kepa Arrizabalaga; Lewis Hall, Thiago Silva, Benoit Badiashile, Trevoh Chalobah; Enzo Fernandez, Mateo Kovacic, Ruben Loftus-Cheek; Raheem Sterling, Noni Madueke, Joao Felix.

We Say: Manchester City 2-1 Chelsea

Though the recent Premier League matches between Man City and Chelsea have mostly been tepid affairs, the narrative will likely change this weekend.

While we expect Lampard’s team to hit the net, the Blues’ defensive woes are too massive to be overlooked, and the Cityzens know how to punish every mistake. This is also the game City will be expecting to lift the Premier League title in, and the buzz from the Madrid win is likely to carry them over the line.