It’s the biggest game of the Premier League season so far, as league leaders Chelsea take on defending champions Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium this Sunday afternoon in the “Battle of the Blues.”
Manchester City have had a strong start to the season, opening with a 2-0 win over Newcastle and following this up with a 3-1 win over last season’s runner up Liverpool. However, Pellegrini’s squad have gone on somewhat of a slump in recent weeks, suffering a 1-0 defeat to Stoke at home and a 2-2 scoreline when the Manchester boys took on Arsenal away, with some suggesting they aren’t yet the force they could be.
Chelsea have had quite the opposite start to the new season, opening their campaign with a 3-1 defeat of recently promoted Burnley away. The Chelsea boys then backed this up in impressive fashion, beating Leicester 2-0 at home, and then giving a thumping away at Everton, defeating them 6-3. Chelsea ‘s last match was against Swansea at home, defeating the Welsh side 4-2, giving the London club with four wins out of four. This has given many fans the belief that Mourinho’s boys have the best shot at the title.
Chelsea ‘s visit to Manchester will prove to be their biggest test of the season so far. Their chance of yet another win has been boosted by the news of Jovetic (hamstring) and Fernando (groin) absence from Sunday’s clash. Yet, Manchester City are expected to play forward Edin Dzeko, who has been troubled of late by a back injury suffered during the midweek Champions League loss to Bayern Munich.
Chelsea in contrast have reported that they will travel with a fully fit team suffering no loss of players, despite Diego Costa having a slight hamstring problem. However Chelsea will face a blow if their former player, club legend Frank Lampard, will play for the opposing side, due to his current loan move with Manchester City.
Chelsea won their last two Premier League matches during the 2013/14 season, winning away 1-0 early this year as well as winning at home 2-1 last October. However it was Manchester City who actually won their last match, winning 2-0 at home during an F.A. Cup match.
With Chelsea winning away at the Etihad last time they met Manchester City, a full team and a no loss record coming into Sunday’s match, as well as contrasting City’s rocky last few matches and the loss of two of their prominent players, all signs point to a Chelsea win. However, Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United fans will be hoping for a draw, or even a City win, to prevent Chelsea from getting too far in front. Whatever the outcome it should prove to be a cracking game between the two top teams in the league.
Thanks for reading! Support LWOS by following us on Twitter – @LastWordOnSport – and “liking” our Facebook page.
Feel free to discuss this and other footy related articles with thousands of fans at r/football.
For the latest in sports injury news, check out our friends at sports injury alert.
Have you tuned into Last Word On Sports Radio? LWOS is pleased to bring you 24/7 sports radio to your PC, laptop, tablet or smartphone. What are you waiting for? GO!
Main Photo:
