Chelsea players warm up before kick-off
(Reuters)
Chelsea head to Manchester City for Saturday’s early Premier League kick-off, knowing they realistically need a victory to blow the title race back wide open. Pep Guardiola’s side have been relentless in the league of late and opened up a 10-point lead between themselves and the Blues, so there’s very little pressure on City to go all-out for the win.
That said, they could really exert their dominance and make a point over last year’s Champions League final being a one-off if they took the game to Thomas Tuchel’s team and triumphed to further increase their lead at the top.
In midweek it was Chelsea who triumphed, in the Carabao Cup semi-finals against Tottenham, to book themselves a spot at Wembley and await either Liverpool or Arsenal. City, by contrast, have had over a week to recover since their FA Cup third-round win over Swindon. They have won seven in a row in all competitions and 14 of the last 15, a phenomenal run of form which has them looking at yet another league title. Follow all the updates from Man City vs Chelsea below:
Man City 0 – 0 Chelsea
Kick off: Chelsea get the match started and work the ball over to the right side with a diagonal pass. Cesar Azpilicueta flicks it on to Christian Pulisic who tries to find a way around Joao Cancelo. He’s marshalled over to the touchline and runs the ball out of play under pressure from the Man City defender.
Michael Jones15 January 2022 12:32
Man City vs Chelsea
Here come the teams. Although he won’t admit it Thomas Tuchel will know that his Chelsea team need to win today to keep the Premier League title race alive.
Manchester City are in fantastic form and will want pick up three points to take the gap at the top of the table to 13. Kevin De Bruyne leads out the home side.
Michael Jones15 January 2022 12:28
Man City vs Chelsea
Jorginho has scored 13 Premier League goals since the start of last season, more than any other Chelsea player. All of them have been penalties.
(Getty Images)
Michael Jones15 January 2022 12:23
Man City vs Chelsea: Tuchel on winning Premier League
Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel says that the Blues’ hopes of winning the Premier League this season may be over if they lose to Man City today but he is focused on putting in a good performance. Speaking ahead of kick off he said:
Maybe, who knows.
“We don’t think a lot in scenarios – what happens if – let’s play the game. I’m always in for a good fight, but I’m also always very realistic.
“The situation at the moment is that they are very strong, very consistent and they perform on the absolute highest level.”
Michael Jones15 January 2022 12:19
Man City vs Chelsea: Lukaku eyeing landmark
Romelu Lukaku is two shy of 200 career league goals. However, he has only scored four times in 15 Premier League appearances against Manchester City.
(Getty Images)
Michael Jones15 January 2022 12:15
Man City vs Chelsea: Manchester City, Chelsea, Romelu Lukaku and why you were wrong about signing a striker
It was basic arithmetic, really. In the same way that two plus two equals four, an almost impregnable defence plus a prolific, 20-goals-a-season striker equals a title-winning team.
Two Premier League clubs found themselves stuck on the first side of that equation last summer. Each had one of the best defences in Europe but lacked a player regularly converting at the other end. Both intended to do something about it during the transfer window. One could and did, the other tried and couldn’t.
So in that case, why is the team who didn’t spend £97.5m on a centre-forward sitting at the top of the table, 10 points and eight goals clear of the one who did?
Michael Jones15 January 2022 12:12
Man City vs Chelsea
Pep Guardiola has lost eight matches as a manager against Chelsea, more than against any other club but Chelsea’s win at the Etihad last season is Thomas Tuchel’s only victory in six career league meetings against Guardiola.
Michael Jones15 January 2022 12:08
Man City vs Chelsea: Tuchel on Kante and Kovacic
Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel spoke about the importance of having Mateo Kovacic and N’Golo Kante in the starting XI and how along with Jorginho they push the rest of the team to get better. He said:
If you have players out like Mateo [Kovacic] and N’Golo [Kante], and they share their work with Jorginho on the very highest level in the middle of the pitch, then you miss the core of your team.
“They are so important in the way they come to training, the way they push everybody and the way they are positive. The key players, the top, top players, behave the same way every day. No matter if they have to rest one game, or if they have personal differences, or if they have to fight, their experience and attitude is right. They know what it takes to overperform consistently.
“They push everybody to the limit because they push themselves all the time to the limit. NG is doing this without words. He does it by example, and makes everybody see what the benchmark is. Kova is doing it with words and attitude and a lot of empathy. There are many more like this.”
Michael Jones15 January 2022 12:06
Man City vs Chelsea
Chelsea have dropped points in seven of their last 11 league games, turning a five-point lead over Manchester City into a 10-point deficit.
More worryingly, they have kept only two clean sheets in 11 Premier League matches following a run of seven in their opening 10 fixtures.
(Getty Images)
Michael Jones15 January 2022 12:02
Man City vs Chelsea
Manchester City have won 11 consecutive Premier League matches. Only Preston in 1891-92 and Liverpool in 2013-14 have won 11 or more games in succession and not gone on to win the top-flight title.
Pep Guardiola’s side began last year with a run of 18 straight wins in all competitions, not losing until 7th March.
(Getty Images)
Michael Jones15 January 2022 11:57
