Next Sunday, 21st of September 2014, the English reigning champions, Manchester City, will entertain José Mourinho’s re-buffered Chelsea at the Etihad Stadium for round five of the Premier League on what will certainly be a very pleasant football afternoon.

Manchester City are still far from their last season’s levels of performance and their matches so far have been somewhat inconsistent. After a 2-2 draw against Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium during the weekend, the Citizens failed to repeat their historical deed from last season as they sucumbed at the hands of the all-powerful Bayern Munich last Wednesday’s night. The Manuel Pellegrini’s men were not strong enough to withstand the Bavarian side’s continuous pressure and if it wasn’t for the inspiration of their goalkeeper, Joe Hart, they would have left Allianz Arena with a fairly embarrassing result. Although Manchester City also had their chances to score, they were not able to replicate their solid performance from last season and ended by leaving Germany with a defeat, their second in the just three matches.

The match against Chelsea next weekend probably doesn’t come at the best of times, although, sometimes these type of clashes can inject an extra boost of motivation into the team, allowing them to easily forget their recent slip-ups.

For the match against the Blues, Manuel Pellegrini will probably still not be able to count on the Brazilian defensive midfielder Fernando and on the flamboyant Montenegrin forward Jovetic, since they are both sidelined due to injury.

As for Chelsea, who have been in fact experiencing a fantastic moment so far, their last Wednesday’s home draw against the fragile Schalke 04 for the UEFA Champions League has somewhat stained their almost flawless path this season. José Mourinho’s men performance against the German side left something to be desired and not even the absence of their sharpshooter Diego Costa may explain the uninspired display of the Blues that night.

The Portuguese manager will probably not implement many changes in his team for the match against the Citizens next Sunday, although it is very likely that both Diego Costa and Óscar will make their way back to the starting line-up once again.

The last time both sides measured forces at the Etihad Stadium last season was on a FA Cup match that Manchester City won by 2-0.

Next Sunday’s match outcome is truly unpredictable, although if one analyses both sides’ performances so far this season, one might offer some slight favouritism to the “new” José Mourinho’s Chelsea.

Manchester City

Stats: W-2 L-2 D-1

Recent Form - LDLWW

Chelsea

Stats: W-4 L-0 D-1

Recent Form - DWWWW

Possible Line-ups

Manchester City (4-4-2) – Hart - Zabaleta - Kompany - Demichelis - Kolarov - Fernandinho - Touré - Silva - Nasri - Dzeko - Aguero

Chelsea (4-2-3-1) – Courtois - Ivanovic - Terry - Cahill - Azpilicueta - Matic - Fàbregas - Hazard - Ramires - Óscar - Diego Costa

Prediction

Manchester City 1 Chelsea 2