Chelsea vs Man City Prediction, Betting Tips & Preview

Preview

Haydn Cunningham Apr 12, 2016 @ 06:42 pm

Guus Hiddink has done an admirable job since picking the job up from Jose Mourinho earlier in the season but Chelsea’s decision to announce that Antonio Conte would be taking over next season has had an adverse effect on their results. They suffered their 3^rd defeat in 5 as they travelled to Swansea and laboured to an abysmal 1-0 loss. It hasn’t helped with the injuries to Willian, Eden Hazard and Diego Costa but a club the size of Chelsea should be able to have enough strength in depth to beat a side in 16^th place. Had Chelsea won they would’ve trailed 5^th place Manchester United by 6 points with 6 games left and had a very good chance of qualifying for the Europa League. It may not be in their best interests to qualify for Europe’s 2^nd competition though and that may potentially be the thinking behind this season so Conte can devote all his time to a serious Premier League title challenge. 

Manchester City have had a similar problem with the announcement of Pep Guardiola. It has dramatically seen a drop in performances in the league but in the Champions League they have thrived. It has been the Qatari owner’s objective as soon as they stepped into the club and they have their best chance after coming away from PSG with a 2-2 draw. The side they field at Chelsea could well be determined by how they fare in the 2^nd leg of the quarter-finals which are due to be played this week. They can’t afford to be too casual with their remaining Premier League games despite the clubs around them dropping points. They have a 4 point gap between them and United but should Liverpool win the Europa League it would the team who finished 4^th in the Premier League sacrificing their Champions League qualification spot.

Stamford Bridge usually brings goals in abundance when Manchester City are the visiting team and the sides met just 2 months ago in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup. Pellegrini elected to field a very inexperienced side due to their Champions League commitments and they were trashed 5-1. The previous meeting in the Premier League was the 2^nd game of the season when City ran away 3-0 victors with Mourinho substituting John Terry at half time. 

Hiddink has been very experimental with his Chelsea side but whether he continues to do so in front of their home fans against one of the best sides in the league would be a very brave decision. Sergio Aguero picked up a knock in the 2-1 victory over West Brom on Saturday but is extremely unlikely to miss the tie against PSG so his place against Chelsea depends on his fitness.

Chelsea

Stats: W-11 L-10 D-11

Recent Form – LWDLL

Manchester City

Stats: W-19 L-6 D-9                                          

Recent Form - WDWLD

Head-to-head record:

Possible Line-ups

Chelsea (4-2-3-1) – Courtois, Azpilicueta, Miazga, Ivanovic, Baba, Fabregas, Mikel, Pedro, Loftus Cheek, Oscar, Falcao

Man City (4-2-3-1) – Hart, Zabaleta, Otamendi, Kompany, Kolarov, Fernandinho, Toure, Navas, De Bruyne, Nasri, Aguero

Injury List/Suspended Players

Chelsea – Terry (inj), Cahill (inj), Zouma (inj), Hazard (inj), Remy (inj), Costa (inj)

Manchester City – Silva (inj), Sterling (inj)

League Positions