Kick-off: 1630, 12/11/2023
Stadium: Stamford Bridge
TV: Sky Sports
Neutrals will hope Chelsea’s second match of the week proves just as entertaining as the first as they welcome the champions to Stamford Bridge.
The thrilling 4-1 victory at Tottenham on Monday night was a Premier League classic but assuming City do not have two men sent off, unlike Spurs, this should be a very different game.
Under 2.5 goals has paid out in five of the last six meetings between these two so the same outcome again at 19/20 is our opening Chelsea vs Man City prediction.
Four goals flatters Blues
Blues boss Mauricio Pochettino marked his return to north London by ending the Premier League’s last unbeaten record but we’re not reading too much into the final scoreline.
A frenetic London derby saw five disallowed goals, two red cards, a penalty and two Spurs players forced off during the first half with injury.
Even with nine men the hosts continued to take the game to Chelsea and were well in the contest before Nicolas Jackson twice sprung their high line in stoppage time to add his team’s third and fourth goals and complete an unlikely hat-trick.
Pochettino felt his team were deserved victors, saying: “We forced them to make too many mistakes. Tottenham were better in the first 15 minutes but then we matched the game. Our performance was good.
“Everything you can see during the game I think was fair. We compare to the Tottenham/Liverpool game, a similar game like today. Liverpool complained. But today, everything that happened was fair. That’s why I think 4-1, the performance was good.”
Chelsea have failed to lay a glove on City in the last two seasons, though, losing all six meetings in three different competitions without scoring a single goal.
They look short of firepower this season despite Monday’s result and another win to nil for the visitors is priced at 2/1 in the Chelsea vs Man City odds.
City rock solid even without Stones
City returned to the top of the table last weekend after thrashing Bournemouth 6-1 while the teams around them all dropped points.
They have also made serene progress through to the last 16 of the Champions League with two games to spare following the routine 3-0 win against Young Boys.
The only downside to the midweek game was another injury setback for John Stones which boss Pep Guardiola claimed could leave his team “in trouble”.
Stones has been revelatory for City playing in a hybrid defence-midfield role and Guardiola feels he complements central anchor Rodri perfectly.
Much was made of the fact Rodri was suspended when City lost three successive games earlier in the campaign but Guardiola believes the absence of Stones was equally crucial.
He said: “The problem is we play John and Rodri at the same time – now we are in trouble because we have to play a bit differently, like happened in Arsenal.
“We do not feel comfortable still, we are not prepared to change many variations.”
Nathan Ake or Manuel Akanji look the obvious replacements for Stones and City should still be solid defensively while having the attacking quality to get the job done.
They have triumphed 1-0 in four of their last six meetings with Chelsea so the same result again at 13/2 completes our Chelsea vs Man City betting tips.
Additional stats
Last result:
Tottenham 1-4 CHELSEA – Cole Palmer, Nicolas Jackson (3)
MAN CITY 3-0 Young Boys – Erling Haaland (2), Phil Foden
Previous head-to-head: Man City 1-0 Chelsea, Man City 4-0 Chelsea, Chelsea 0-1 Man City, Man City 2-0 Chelsea, Man City 1-0 Chelsea, Chelsea 0-1 Man City
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