London: Chelsea will welcome Manchester City to Stamford Bridge for the first match of the new year which is expected to be a mouth-watering showdown between the two big teams.
The last match of 2020 saw the Blues get hold off to a 1-1 draw by Aston Villa, while Pep Guardiola’s City last played on Boxing Day in their comfortable victory over Newcastle United.
The Blues have managed to win just one match out of their last six matches played, a side with ambitions of winning Premier League after a £200m summer spending spree, the title race become doubtful.
The sixth-placed Blues are now seven points behind reigning champions Liverpool and three behind fourth-placed Everton.
In spite of Chelsea’s recent struggles, only Liverpool have managed to score more top-flight goals than Chelsea this season, and a win against City would mean Chelsea can extend their unbeaten streak at home to 12 matches in all competitions.
For Manchester City, Kyle Walker and Gabriel Jesus both tested positive for COVID-19. Although, absence of either Walker or Jesus did not affect City’s Boxing Day clash with Newcastle but following several new cases their midweek clash against Everton was called off.
Compared to Lampard’s Chelsea who had no problems finding the back of the net this season, Guardiola’s men have just netted 21 times in the league, which is the fewest out of any side in the top half.
After a relatively slow start to the campaign, who are the four-time Premier League champions’ found a comfortable 2-0 win over Newcastle on Boxing Day, which stretched their unbeaten run across all competitions to 10 matches.
The Stamford Bridge clash would be the 166th meeting between Chelsea and Manchester City in all competitions, in which the Blues won 68 times compared to City’s 58.
Chelsea
Premier League: WLLWLD
All competitions: DLLWLD
Manchester City
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All competitions: WDDWWW
Chelsea possible starting lineup:
Mendy, Azpilicueta, Zouma, Silva, Chilwell; Kante, Kovacic, Mount; Pulisic, Abraham, Werner
Manchester City possible starting lineup:
Steffen, Cancelo, Dias, Stones, Mendy; Rodri, Gundogan; Mahrez, De Bruyne, Sterling; Aguero
