Chelsea vs Manchester City Preview:
Possible starting lineups:
Chelsea:
Mendy; Christensen, Thiago Silva, Rudiger; Azpilicueta, Kante, Jorginho, Alonso; Mount, Lukaku, Havertz
Manchester City:
Ederson; Walker, Dias, Ake, Cancelo; De Bruyne, Fernandinho, Gundogan; Jesus, Torres, Grealish
This is a derby of the round, a clash between the two biggest favorites for the title. At the same time this will be the replay of the last season's Champions League final. Chelsea are sharing the top the table with 13 points, while Manchester City occupy the fifth place with 10 points. The Blues are excellent so far, they managed to obtain four victories, while shared the points on the remaining occasion. Having on mind they faced three teams from "Big-6" group, the owner Roman Abramovich could be satisfied with the results. Manager Thomas Tuchel is doing a great job and the fans are pleased. Chelsea beat Crystal Palace, Arsenal, Aston Villa and Tottenham, while shared the points with Liverpool at Anfield. In addition, they beat Zenit St Petersburg in the Champions League and Aston Villa on penalties in the EFL Cup. The players confidence is very high at the moment, however Tuchel has some injury issues. First-choice goalkeeper Edouard Mendy has missed the last two matches due to a knock and he is rated as doubtful. Christian Pulisic is also a doubt with an ankle problem. Some changes are possible, N'Golo Kante could replace Mateo Kovacic in the midfield, while Kai Havertz and Mason Mount should again support Romelu Lukaku in the attack.
Manchester City are the reigning champions, so this match is very important from lot of reasons. Most of all, the Citizens are already three points behind Chelsea, but going six down could be too much, even at this early stage. Pep Guardiola's men started with a narrow 1:0 loss from Tottenham, then won three in line (Norwich City, Arsenal and Leicester City), while the last weekend played a goalless draw with Southampton. Man City also advanced to the fourth round of the League Cup during the midweek, recording a high 6:1 victory over Wycombe Wanderers at the Etihad. They were successful in the Champions League too, beating Bundesliga outfit Red Bull Leipzig with 6:3. The next period of the season is very important as they will face Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League and then travel to Liverpool in yet another Premier League derby. Guardiola has some injury issues ahead of this match as Rodri, Oleksandr Zinchenko and Ilkay Gundogan are all rated as doubtful. Defenders John Stones and Aymeric Laporte are out, so Nathan Ake and Ruben Dias should start in the middle of the defense. The situation in the attack worry Pep and he already mentioned the lack of recognized striker in the team could be a problem. The fact they didn't score against Southampton is a big issue. Gabriel Jesus and Ferran Torres will try to improve the efficiency.
Chelsea vs Manchester City Prediction:
I expect an interesting derby between the two best Premier League teams. It is very hard to predict the winners, so I will try with goals. Chelsea played 8 competitive games in the new season and they have scored on each of them. Manchester City were not that good, they haven't scored on the last league fixture against Southampton, but I expect some kind of reaction here. The last four mutual games played in the Premier League were all efficient, so I think the series to continue.
Chelsea vs Manchester City Pick: Both teams to score - Yes @ 1.86 with
Pinnacle