- Chelsea vs Manchester City
- April 12 at 16:30
- Opta Supercomputer makes prediction
The Opta Supercomputer has predicted the outcome of Manchester City’s visit to the English capital on Sunday and it is a close call.
Manchester City have been hanging on by a thread in the Premier League title race, but there have been reasons to be encouraged since their most recent match in the competition.
The Citizens conquered Arsenal in the Carabao Cup final and despite the interruption of an international break, they returned just as strong against Liverpool in the FA Cup.
Now, City are looking to break down Chelsea and they do so with lots of motivation, especially since Arsenal lost to Bournemouth on Saturday afternoon.
Opta Supercomputer rates Man City’s chances against Chelsea
Man City have found some positive form and the Opta Supercomputer has handed them a 41 per cent likelihood of defeating Chelsea.
However, the Blues have a 33 per cent chance of taking all three points, meaning this is by no means a foregone conclusion.
Indeed, Liam Rosenior has backed Chelsea to beat City and there is little chance of them playing for anything less than a victory.
Man City must neutralise Joao Pedro’s threat
Recently, City’s defence has looked more stable, as shown by their two consecutive clean sheets. Despite this, even more quality is needed to prevent Chelsea’s biggest goal threat from landing on the scoresheet.
Joao Pedro has netted in 47 per cent of his team’s home matches in the Premier League this season and in 39 per cent of their overall games.
The Brazilian ran riot against Aston Villa last month, bagging three goals and an assist. Although he blanked in Chelsea’s next two matches, Pedro was on target during their 7-0 thrashing of Port Vale in the FA Cup.
If Man City are to beat Chelsea on Sunday, it is essential that Pedro is kept quiet, so Abdukodir Khusanov and Marc Guehi will need to be at their best.
Man City have a good record against Chelsea
One factor which will benefit Man City is the fact that over the past few years, they have beaten Chelsea more often than not.
This of course was not the case earlier in the season, but the Citizens are still unbeaten in their past 10 meetings against the Blues.
Rosenior will not be too bothered by this considering he was not in charge, but the manager has hardly got off to a dream start at his new club.
City showed that despite conceding a late equaliser against Arsenal, they were able to beat them at the second time of asking. Now, the same must be done to Chelsea.
