Date: Monday, February 3 Venue: Etihad Stadium Kick-Off: 20:00 Can Manchester City avenge their defeat to Chelsea last October and move back to the summit of the Premier League when the two sides clash at the Etihad?
Team News
Manchester City will be without their leading goal-scorer Sergio Aguero for at least a month after the striker suffered a hamstring injury against Tottenham last week. Midfielders Samir Nasri and Javi Garcia are also unavailable with respective knee and muscle problems. Chelsea will assess the fitness of Mohamed Salah ahead of kick-off following the winger's arrival from Basel. Salah missed last week's draw with West Ham, as did Fernando Torres, who remains out. (BBC)
Key Stats
Andre Schurrle and Fernando Torres scored in a 2-1 win for Chelsea when these two sides last met, at Stamford Bridge back in October. Chelsea's last 'double' against City came in the 2008-09 season. Manchester City have won eight games in a row in the league for the first time since 1946-47, and are undefeated at Etihad Stadium against English opposition this season. A win would make Chelsea the first team to do the double over Manchester City in the Premier League since Everton in 2010-11.
Likely Line-Ups
Man City Hart, Clichy, Kompany, Demichelis, Zabaleta, Fernandinho, Toure, Silva, Navas, Dzeko, Negredo. Chelsea Cech, Azpilicueta, Terry, Cahill, Ivanovic, Ramires, Matic, Willian, Oscar, Hazard, Etoo.
Match Preview
Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho claimed West Ham were playing football from "the 19th century" last week, and will come up against a Man City team playing football from the 22nd century tonight. With 115 goals from 37 games, this City side have been blowing away all competition this season and there's rarely a point when they don't look like scoring. That's what Mourinho is going to have to contend with here as the Premier League's most potent attack force meets its meanest defence, with the Blues conceding but 20 goals this term. That's the best defensive record in the division and Chelsea will have to stay tight at the back if they are to have any hope of destroying City's 100% home record here. The Citizens are unbeaten on home soil against English opponents this season but Mourinho has a good personal record against Pellegrini, winning six of the pair's last eight encounters. That took in spells in both Spain and England, when the duo were at Real Madrid and Malaga, while Chelsea also beat City 2-1 back in October. Each of those statistics will give the Blues confidence that they are capable of derailing City but I'm going for a draw in this one, as I believe they'll both cancel each other out. Prediction 1-1
Joseph is an accredited football journalist and has interviewed nearly all of the current 20 Barclay's Premier League managers. He is also a correspondent for Bleacher Report and has written for Caught Offside and Give Me Football.
