Manchester City vs Chelsea Preview

Chelsea and Manchester City will renew their rivalry this Saturday when they face off at the Etihad in the 25th Round of the 2023/24 Premier League season.

Defending champions Manchester City kept their chances of securing another historic treble this season alive when they beat FC Copenhagen in the first leg of their Champions League round of 16 tie. Goals from Kevin De Bruyne, Bernardo Silva and Phil Foden secured all three points and ensured that Pep Guardiola’s side have one foot in the next round.

With that out of the way, Guardiola’s next target will be to continue his side’s push for the Premier League title. City are currently sitting in second place but have a game in hand over table-topping Liverpool so winning here will keep them technically top of the table.

Meanwhile, eleven successive wins across all competitions – their longest such run since a 21-game run between December 2020 and March 2021–puts the hosts as the favourites to win this tie. They will be more than confident of adding to that winning run in front of their fans where they’ve been formidable over the past year. City haven’t lost any of their last 22 home league games (W18, D4), and only Liverpool can boast a longer unbeaten active home run (24).

Chelsea may be confident of ending that unbeaten streak here after they became the first side since Leicester in the 2020/21 season to score at least four times against Pep Guardiola’s side in the reverse fixture. In a game that would become a Premier League classic, City and Chelsea played out a 4-4 draw at Stamford Bridge making Mauricio Pochettino’s side one seven teams to take points off City this season.

So fans could be confident of another exciting game only that the Blues have failed to win any of the last seven H2Hs against City since emerging victorious in the 2021 Champions League final (D1, L6). All six defeats saw them fail to score, yet the blockbuster 4-4 draw in the reverse fixture should instil confidence in the Blues camp.

If Chelsea score two or more goals here, it would be the first time a side managed by Guardiola has conceded six league goals in a season against a single opponent.

Other fixtures taking place this week in the Premier League Fixtures:

Premier League Table