Manchester City vs Chelsea. Prediction and Preview. Probable Lineups, Team News, Stats and more

Manchester City will host Chelsea in the 22nd round of English Premier League. The match will take place on January 15, beginning at 18:00 IST.

The EPL is suffering from the Omicron coronavirus strain, but still, football continues to delight us. This Saturday, there will be six meetings of the 22nd Match Week. The main event will undoubtedly be the clash between Manchester City and Chelsea, two title contenders. 

Will the Aristocrats be able to put up a fight and not let the Citizens break away in the title race? If Manchester City win in the upcoming match, the Premiership fate will be almost decided, but Thomas Tuchel sets himself the task of not letting that happen. Let’s find out what he can do against Guardiola.

Manchester City News & Current Form:

Manchester City tops the EPL standings after 21 matches played, in which they picked up 53 points.

Regardless of how the upcoming game ends, the question of the winner of the current season is almost solved. It is hard to imagine that Man City will allow anyone to catch up with them. The Citizens are very confident and unshakable at being the leader of the championship. 

Now, only Chelsea and Liverpool have a theoretical chance to put up a fight, but Manchester need to lose points in almost every other game for that to happen, and that’s absolutely unrealistic, we cannot even imagine this.

It is notable, that Man City have won 14 of their last 15 matches. The only exception was the encounter with RB Leipzig in the Champions League, which actually had no effect on anything at all.

In early January, the team of Josep Guardiola defeated London Arsenal, and then easily beat modest Swindon Town in the FA Cup.

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Chelsea News & Current Form:

Chelsea sits second in the table with 43 points in 21 games. The gap to Man City is 10 points as of now.

Apparently, in the current championship campaign Chelsea will now have to concentrate on not falling out of the top 4 – which is really reasonable considering the level of competition.

Thomas Tuchel’s team has an unbeaten streak of 11 games already. However, it is difficult to call this stretch an excellent one. Several times, Chelsea drew with the teams in matches where they should have won confidently and without questions. As a result, these failures are likely to hamper the Blues’ chances of winning the league title.

Yet, in January, Chelsea had already escaped defeat at the hands of Liverpool (2-2), beat Tottenham twice in the League Cup which resulted in the progression to the final, they also defeated Chesterfield in the FA Cup.

Manchester City season form guide(all competitions): W-W-W-W-W-W

Chelsea season form guide: W-D-D-W-W-W

Manchester City vs Chelsea Head-To-Head Record:

Manchester City vs Chelsea Predicted XI:

Manchester City possible starting lineup (4-3-3): Ederson; Walker, Dias, Laporte, Cancelo; Gundogan, Rodri, De Bruyne; Silva, Jesus, Foden 

Chelsea possible starting lineup (3-4-2-1): Kepa; Christensen, Silva, Rudiger; Azpilicueta, Jorginho, Kovacic, Alonso; Mount, Havertz; Lukaku

Statistical preview of the match Manchester City vs Chelsea:

• Chelsea have lost only one of their last 15 Premier League games under Thomas Tuchel, but have drawn in six of them.
• Manchester City prevailed 0-1 in their first match and will be looking to do the double over Chelsea for only the fourth time in their Premier League history.
• Chelsea have gone undefeated in 9 of their last 10 away game.
• Man City have scored at least 2 goals in 9 of their last 11 matches. 
• Chelsea have scored at least 2 goals in 5 of their last 6 away matches.

What has been said before the match:

Thomas Tuchel:

“The biggest difference so far this season as far as I’m concerned is that they have dealt better with injuries and they dealt better with the Covid situation. Maybe it’s unlucky, maybe they do it better or whatever but they have less injuries from key players. They did not suffer from Covid as we did so this is the huge difference. We had some draws that were unnecessary and if you have your full squad you create an uncertain atmosphere for everybody and that pushes everybody to the edge.”

“You need to be on the edge if you want to compete with Man City, they are the benchmark and the best team in England right now.”

the German stressed succinctly.

Manchester City vs Chelsea United Prediction:

Manchester City are incredibly strong right now, with terrific results and solid defense metrics. And Josep Guardiola manages his squad efficiently and makes good use of the rotation, even if the coronavirus and AFCON cause additional difficulties. 

Thomas Tuchel, on the other hand, has some issues. There are questions for Romelu Lukaku and his form, crucial flank players are in the sickbay as well as some other important squad members like Édouard Mendy, recent results in the EPL are unimpressive and, moreover, the Aristocrats had less time to rest and recover. In a match against the Citizens, such concerns are unacceptable – it is unclear how the German coach will be able to patch up these ‘holes’. 

Yes, Man City frankly suffered last season against Chelsea, including the Champions League final. But Guardiola appears to have figured out how to play against Tuchel. And now the plans and tactics of the former PSG coach may not work as well as before.

We remember Manchester City’s away win over Chelsea at the end of September. It was all decided by a single goal scored by Gabriel Jesus, but it must be admitted that the quality of the Ciztizens’ game was seriously dominating.

Chelsea might be able to score on the field of the leader and reigning champion, but the final score is likely to upset Tuchel.

Parimatch News staff prediction: 

We say: 1) Manchester City to win and the match total over 2.5. 2) Both to score (optional).