Manchester City v Chelsea match preview

Manchester City host Chelsea in the Premier League match of the weekend. In their last game week, City lost to Liverpool 3-1 which put them nine points behind the leaders which is a significant gap already this early in the season. Guardiola will want to make sure that his team does not drop any further points this weekend to a young Chelsea side who are one point and one place above them in the table.

Chelsea have been in good form winning their last six league matches and have climbed the table. Many were worried about Frank Lampard’s side, but they have exceeding expectations and are one of the most exciting teams in England at the moment. However, this will be a big challenge for them to face the champions in their stadium. The two teams that they have faced from the so-called “top 6” they have lost with the first 4-0 against United on the opening day. The second was a 1-2 loss against Liverpool which was a good performance from them, but Liverpool never really looked like they would lose the match.

Manchester City will put out a very attacking team and try to get an early goal. The last time the two teams faced each other at the Etihad last season, Chelsea were demolished 6-0 and left very embarrassed. However, this is also a different side to Chelsea last season and Lampard will not let his team concede so may goals but will also not park the bus. He should still play a go with a protected formation so that they do not get exposed too much but still have their attacking fluidity. If they play too attacking, then it could just go play into City’s hand as they are one of the best Counter attacking teams in Europe. Therefore, Lampard has to try to find the right balance between the two.

I think that Chelsea will put in a brave performance and put City to the test but will come up short against the champions. Even though City played well at Anfield the team will want to put the result behind them and if Aguero starts he will also be hungry to on the last game week where he was almost anonymous.

Predicted score Manchester City 3-1 Chelsea.