Next Saturday, 31st of January 2015, the league leaders, Chelsea, will entertain the current English champions, Manchester City, at a predictably packed Stamford Bridge for round 23 of the Barclays Premier League, on a match of capital importance for both sides and that could almost decide the title challenge if the Blues manage to clinch the three points.

After a painful and demotivating defeat at the hands of a League One side, Bradford City, last weekend for the FA Cup, Chelsea managed to come back with an immediate response and granted a place in the Capital One Cup final by beating Liverpool last Tuesday’s night at Stamford Bridge. José Mourinho’s boys, who made a fool of themselves against the Bantams last Saturday, were able to recover from the shock of being eliminated from the FA Cup and produced a quality and consistent performance against a complicated side such as Liverpool. An extra-time goal by the Serbian powerful defender Branislav Ivanovic granted the Blues a place in the Capital One Cup final, something that left the Portuguese manager completely over the moon after the final whistle, as opposed to what had happened Saturday, when the Special One claimed to be ashamed of his team’s elimination from such an important competition as the FA Cup at the expenses of such modest rivals.

The upcoming fixture against their closest title contenders, Manchester City, will certainly not be a walk in the park but, by playing at home in front of their enthusiastic supporters, Chelsea have everything in their favour to secure the three points. For that particular clash, José Mourinho will probably have all his players at disposal, although there are still some doubts regarding the physical condition of the Spanish playmaker Cesc Fabregas, who picked up a hamstring injury on last Tuesday’s match against Liverpool.

As for Manchester City, the current English Premier League champions are probably not going through the most impressive period right now and their premature elimination from the FA Cup last weekend is the living proof of that. The Citizens succumbed at home against the Championship side of Middlesbrough and they now only have the UEFA Champions League and the EPL to battle for this season.

Manchester City are on a two-match row without any victories for the league and another defeat next weekend will most certainly put an abrupt end to their aspirations of winning the EPL title once again this season.

For the Stamford Bridge match, Manuel Pellegrini will probably still not be able to rely on the services of the French international Samir Nasri, who remains sidelined due to injury.

Although the upcoming match will certainly be a very close one, it is fair to say Chelsea are firm favourites, especially after their moralizing midweek win against Liverpool.

Chelsea

Stats: W-3 L-1 D-1

Recent Form - WLDWW

Manchester City

Stats: W-2 L-2 D-1

Recent Form - LWLDW

Possible Line-ups

Chelsea (4-3-3) – Courtois - Ivanovic - Terry - Cahill - Filipe Luis - Matic - Fàbregas - Óscar - Hazard - Willian - Diego Costa

Manchester City (4-2-3-1) – Hart - Zabaleta - Kompany - Demichelis - Kolarov - Fernando - Touré - Milner - Silva - Jovetic - Aguero

Prediction

Chelsea 1 Manchester City 0