Kick-off: 1230, 15/01/2022
Stadium: Etihad Stadium
TV: BT Sport
Manchester City can extend their lead in the Premier League title race when they host second-placed Chelsea on Saturday.
The defending champions start the weekend with a 10-point advantage over the Blues after a run of 11 straight wins.
They deserve to be favourites here but six of the last seven meetings have only been settled by a one-goal margin so a home win by one goal at 3.50 is our opening Man City vs Chelsea prediction.
Manchester City Odds
There appears to be no stopping City at the moment and since the start of November they have won 14 out of 15 matches in all competitions, with their only setback being a 2-1 defeat at RB Leipzig in the Champions League.
The absence of Riyad Mahrez due to the Africa Cup of Nations is a blow but City rarely falter regardless of which players are available.
A recent coronavirus outbreak may be more of an issue but City were still able to put out a strong side at Swindon in the FA Cup last weekend, when manager Pep Guardiola was one of the first-team bubble to test positive.
City were 1-0 winners at Stamford Bridge in September and this could be another cagey affair given that a draw would be a decent result for City given their lead at the summit.
Looking at the Man City vs Chelsea odds, we like City to avoid defeat and under 2.5 goals at 2.35.
Last Man City line-up: Steffen, Walker, Dias, Ake, Cancelo, Gundogan, Rodri, De Bruyne, Silva, Palmer, Jesus.
Chelsea Odds
Chelsea booked their place in the EFL Cup final in midweek but attention will have quickly switched to the trip to the Etihad Stadium.
Antonio Rudiger’s first-half goal at Tottenham completed a 3-0 aggregate success but boss Thomas Tuchel felt his side were “playing with fire” in the second leg after Spurs had two penalties overturned and Harry Kane had a goal disallowed for offside.
“We lost a bit of control, focus, some important duels – and were lucky that suddenly we didn’t concede,’” said Tuchel.
“We were a bit sloppy and weren’t fully aware of the danger. I had the feeling on the touchline we were playing with fire.
“Second half again, strong start for 15 minutes but again the same story. We conceded a penalty that wasn’t a penalty or a big chance. We struggled to cope with the momentum.
“We had many ball losses, lost many challenges one-on-one. So big space to improve, it wasn’t a super bad game, but it was an OK game and there were some moments and minutes that were good. But there are some that need huge improvement.”
City are likely to be much more ruthless in punishing any Chelsea mistakes and proved with their recent 2-1 win at Arsenal that they can get the job done even if not quite at their best.
For the last of our Man City vs Chelsea betting tips, another 1-0 win for City appeals at 7.25.
Last Chelsea line-up: Kepa, Rudiger, Christensen, Azpilicueta, Sarr, Jorginho, Kovacic, Mount, Lukaku, Werner, Hudson-Odoi.
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