It’s not been the greatest few weeks to be a City fan – not since the takeover, anyway. Not only were there the woes in the transfer market two-and-a-half weeks ago, but The Blues have struggled to retain any sort of form in the weeks since Liverpool’s visit to The Etihad in late August. Since then, Stoke have visited Eastlands and departed with all three points, and City have paid visits to Arsenal (2-2 draw) and Bayern Munich (1-0 loss) in a disappointing few weeks results-wise.
Back in Premier League action this weekend, Chelsea are the visitors to The Etihad and City will be looking to close the gap on the team that are most people’s title favourites, and who are also topping the league table after four games. Manuel Pellegrini will be hoping to do what he couldn’t in last season’s Premier League campaign, and emerge victorious against José Mourinho’s Chelsea team.
In the most recent league meeting between these two back in February, the London side came to Manchester aiming to put heat on the then-title favourites. In a not-so-hotly contested game, Chelsea emerged victorious thanks to a first-half Branislav Ivanovic goal from outside the box. City didn’t really deserve anything from that game but it did put the brakes on what had been a very good couple of months for City.
Two weeks later though, Mourinho brought his team back up to Manchester in the FA Cup and it was a very different story. After a disappointing 1-0 loss earlier in the month, City really turned it on that day with Jovetić and Nasri scoring both goals in a resounding – and confidence-boosting – victory for Manuel Pellegrini’s high-scoring side. The Blues would go out in the next round at home to Wigan Athletic, but by the end of the season that defeat was largely forgotten.
The league game at Stamford Bridge ended largely as one would have expected it to – a Chelsea win, although maybe not in the style that they did. After a Schürrle goal in the first half it looked like Chelsea would emerge victorious as they usually do. However, an Agüero equaliser early in the second half put a spanner in the works. That might have given City a chance to go on and win the game but José’s imperious home record was left undented after Fernando Torres made sure of the three points on 90 minutes, making the most of a mix-up between Joe Hart and Matija Nastasić to score for The Pensioners.
After the disappointing loss to Bayern Munich in mid-week, we are likely to see a changed side for The Blues. Pablo Zabaleta is very likely to be reinstated at the expense of Bacary Sagna. Zaba missed the Bayern game due to a Champions League suspension in last year’s edition but should be back in the side for Mourinho’s side to visit. Fernando (muscle) is still absent from the side after picking up an injury against Stoke last month, but could make the Hull game next weekend. Stevan Jovetić (hamstring) may get a run-out as he was reportedly very close to being in the squad for last week’s Arsenal game, and could be fit to play against Chelsea. Other than that, no other worries for City.
Something Manuel Pellegrini won’t be pleased to hear about is a clean bill of health for José Mourinho’s squad. Diego Costa is still recovering from a hamstring problem that threatened to keep him out of this game, but made the bench against Schalke on Wednesday, and is likely to start against City. According to Mourinho, he is still only fit enough to play a game a week, hence his exclusion from the starting eleven in the Champions League.
It’s a cliché, but Sunday’s game between City and Chelsea is a real six-pointer. Neither team can really afford to lose, but that won’t stop either from attacking their opponent. Manuel Pellegrini will be glad to be back in the hot-seat after he was forced to sit out the Bayern game due to a touchline ban carried over from last season, and he will be keen to get one over the manager who replaced him at Real Madrid in 2010. Sunday’s Premier League clash between possibly England’s best two teams is a mouth-watering prospect on the face of it, and is leaving everyone guessing in terms of the result.
