After successive wins in the Premier League, Chelsea will host this monday league leader Man City at Stamford Bridge.Manchester City still hasn’t lost a single game in Premier League,having a fantastic start with 12 wins and two draws in the 14 games they have played.Their strentgh shows also stat that Manchester City have scored 24 goals in their seven away games in the league this season.It will be a hard game for both club,however Man City has little advantage due the strength of team,and after knocking out from Uefa Champions league,Mancini player surely will try to take their pride back as soon as possible,and this match is exactly opportunity for that.
Sergio Aguero has been unstoppable for City since scoring a brace on debut, and his 11 league goals so far is second in the Premier League, with Edin Dzeko just one behind with 10.With Mario Balotelli adding seven goals, City is powerful in attack,so its to expect that they will cause lots of problems to Chelsea defence.
Although Chelsea claimed 3-0 wins over Wolverhampton and Newcastle United in their past two league matches, Chelsea’s 5-3 and 2-1 home defeats to Arsenal and Liverpool respectively in their last five matches is proof that Andre Villas-Boas high defensive line is porous against top league sides.For this match Villas-Boas will prefer Daniel Sturridge and Didier Drogba upfront as Torres is still low with confidence.
Chelsea is missing long-term Michael Essien, who is not expected to be back until January. Henrique Hilario is a doubt to make the squad due to illness, while Josh McEachran is out with an ankle problem,and David Luiz is suspended for this clash.
Chelsea Aleksandar Kolarov remains in the treatment room due to a groin injury,Micah Richards fell prey to a calf injury in the Champions League clash,so Pablo Zabaleta should likely be in first lineup
Keybattle for this match will be former Valencia players Juan Mata and David Silva which adapted superbly well to life in the Premier League and may even be considered the key men for their respective clubs.With Mata having contributed seven assists in his last nine league games and Silva leading the assist charts with eight for the season, their ability to supply the forwards will have a major effect on Monday night. Mata has already heaped misery on his former Valencia colleagues this week and will hope his friend at City suffers the same fate on Monday.
PROBABLE LINEUPS
CHELSEA :Cech;Bosingwa, Ivanovic, Terry, Cole;Ramires, Romeu, Lampard;Sturridge, Drogba, Mata
MANCHESTER CITY
Hart;Zabaleta, Kompany, Lescott, Clichy;Milner, Toure, Barry; Silva:Balotelli, Aguero
PREDICTION
Chelsea’s win over Newcastle last week will have boosted their confidence and lifted the pressure even further of Villas-Boas’ shoulders. With Sturridge, Drogba and Mata leading the attack they have the quality to beat the league leaders. However City are unstoppable at this current time and they don’t look like letting their momentum cease for a second. They’ll be coming out all guns blazing as they look to maintain their advantage at the top ahead of rivals United.