MAN CITY v Chelsea: The PREVIEW – City’s Probable Team
20 Mar
Paddy Power, exclusive betting partners to Manchester City, are offering a £50 FREE BET to new customers. They have plenty of specials for City’s fixture against Chelsea, with odds of 7/1 for City to record a tight 2-1 victory particularly appealing. Click here to open an account and claim your FREE £50 bet.
With Man City “on the verge of capitulation” according to Alan Hansen, this crucial home fixture against a rejuvenated Chelsea offers us a perfect opportunity to narrow the gap to Manchester United to just one point. Throughout this campaign, we have performed impressively against the bigger teams, with our defeat at Stamford Bridge earlier on in the campaign proving to be the only loss so far to sides occupying the top seven places in the Premier League. Should we manage to exact revenge on Wednesday evening against Chelsea, it should give us great confidence as we look to chase down our local rivals in the battle for the title.
Following our defeat to Swansea and with it, a totally insipid performance, victory against Sporting Lisbon in the Europa League was essential and thanks to a wonderful second half display, it was achieved. It is therefore vital to carry that momentum and self belief forward into this match, in which a win would see the Blues set a Premier League record of 20 consecutive home victories.
With regards to team selection, Roberto Mancini faces a couple of dilemmas in defence. The manager declared in his pre-match press conference that Joleon Lescott is sidelined with injury, whilst Vincent Kompany is doubtful, having not trained fully for a couple of weeks. That said, I would not be at all surprised to see at least one of our regular centre-backs start the game, probably Kompany, with Kolo Touré his partner. Pablo Zabaleta is fit again though Micah Richards is likely to be given the nod on the right of defence.
Further forward and this game sees the first genuine possibility of a Carlos Tévez return. The Argentinean has impressed all the staff with his work ethic and fitness levels in training since giving up golf and could be named on the bench. He has fond memories of facing Chelsea, having scored in each of his last five appearances against them, and it will be fascinating to see the reception he receives if he does make it onto the pitch.
Here is the side Mancini could select:
The visitors have found some form since departing with the services of the much-maligned (and always mis-pronounced) Andre Villas Boas. Their victory over Napoli in the Champions League was a spectacular one and the weekend saw them defeat Leicester in the FA Cup, with Fernando Torres managing to finally get his name on the scoresheet. For this fixture, John Terry is certain to miss out with an injury and Roberto Di Matteo faces a tough choice between Torres and Didier Drogba in attack.
Referee: Mike Dean – Highly regarded and understandably so. One of the best referees in the Premier League, even if he does have a penchant for penalties, so don’t be surprised to see him point the spot on Wednesday night. Has so far officiated in three City games this season, and we have won all of them, scoring ten and conceding none in the process.
Prediction: MAN CITY 2 – 2 Chelsea – A very challenging one to predict due to both sides’ recent form, but I’m sure it will be an open and entertaining affair. Goals to be scored by Sergio Aguero, Mario Balotelli, Didier Drogba and Juan Mata.
Is it pronounced Viyash Bowash? Or something like that?
this is our worst line up.man,you losing your touch who ever wrote this article.
having milner on the left is really wrong,idk why mancini havent seen that.he keep losing ball and his pass is too slow.clichy is really useless in attacking.barry is too slow.so when these player is mixed together we gonna have a performance when we fight sporting lisbon in their home.
the line up should be -hart,richards,lescott/savic,kompany,kolarov,milner(middle),yaya,silva,johnson,aguero,dzeko
And what person on the right mind would put Kolarov in the line up. May be you think his fast reflexes can nullify Sturridge!
I sincerely hope that Kompany is fit and that he starts as Savic is like a rabbit caught in the headlights at the moment. I think we’ll win this 2v1!
Don’t mind who scores as long as we win and keep on winning!
Also like to add that Kolarov is a midfielder in my eyes and should not be rotated with Clichy at all if he’s fit.
i would put our strong 11 vs chelsea( Hart.Richard, Kompany, Kolo Toure, Clichy, Yaya, Barry, Nasri, Silva, Tevez & Aguero
Score- 3-2
nasri plays solid against strong teams.
If we play Savic & Kolorov in defense then Drogba will get a hatrick. Even Torres would get a hatrick against that defense. Hell, my wife could get a hatrick against them two. OK, maybe not a hatrick but at least a brace.
If Kompany isn’t fit then I would contemplate putting Yaya as a central defender. He can play in that position and is better than Savic. I would consider Pantilimon in defence before I picked Savic at the moment.
I am sure the scouts and Mancini have seen something in him but he isn’t ready yet so he should go out on loan like Boyata until he is ready.
We should have gone for Samba in January and possibly Cahill to bolster our defence. Without Kompany we are leeking goals too regularly.
Whatever happens it will be an intersting game to say the least.
Come on City.