Sunday will see battle royale as the two pre season favorites
square off at the Etihad Stadium. While the blues from west London have enjoyed
a thunderous start to the season winning all four of their opening matches the
light blues from Manchester have been inconsistent. A labored win at Newcastle,
a comfortable win against Liverpool, a shock home loss to Stoke and a come from
behind draw at Arsenal has been City’s mixed bag season so far. A win for Chelsea will give them an 8 point
lead over City which, though not decisive at this point, will heap pressure on
their main title rivals. Last season the sides faced each other three times
with Jose Mourinho claiming a league double while Manuel Pellegrini had to be
content with a win in the League Cup. Significantly however, City have won 5
out of the last 6 times these two teams have met at the Etihad. Chelsea have no
injury concerns while City have enough depth in their squad to cope with the absence
on Jovetic and Fernando.
Both teams had mid week Champions league games and both
chose not to start with their star strikers. Diego Costa and Kun Aguero came on
as substitutes in the second half and both failed to get on the score sheet.
While City lost away to Bayern courtesy a late goal, Chelsea fared slightly
better drawing 1-1 against Schalke at home. Mourinho has already stated that
Costa will start on Sunday and Aguero is also certain to start. All eyes will
be on the two strikers as the battle it out to be crowned the best in the
Premier League. However, the game will be decided not only by these two alone
but on two key battles that will be fought in the midfield.
Fabregas Vs
Fernandinho
Fabregas has been the brains behind Chelsea’s imperious form
so far. He has already notched up a league leading 6 assists and scored his
first Chelsea goal against Schalke on Wednesday. Playing deep alongside Matic
he orchestrates the attack with his vision, creating chances for Costa, Hazard
and Schurrle. My guess is Fabregas will be played as the no10 while Mikel will
most likely slot in beside Matic as additional defensive cover. Fernandinho was
arguably City’s Man of the Match against Arsenal, thwarting the Arsenal
midfield again and again. He was, however guilty of letting Mame Biram Diouf get
past him too easily for the goal in the defeat to Stoke City. With Yaya Toure woefully out
of form Fernandinho will once again be entrusted with the job of breaking up play. He
will most likely be partnered by the hard working James Milner as Lampard
looked short of match practice at the Emirates and was hauled off at halftime.
Matic Vs David Silva
On the other side Matic will be entrusted with the unenviable
task of stopping David Silva. David Silva is easily one of the most technically
gifted players in the Premier League and most people would be willing to pay to
watch him play. With Fabregas joining the attack Matic has been isolated in the
midfield quite a few times and that has led to Chelsea shipping 5 goals in
their last two matches. He will have to be extra vigilant as Ivanovic too has
been playing higher up more often as a wing back. Mourinho may opt to blunt the
threat posed by David Silva by playing Azpilicueta on the right and Felipe Luis
on the left with Ivanovic dropping to the bench. Silva will be looking to add
to his one goal so far and to open his account in the assists department.
The biggest challenge for Mourinho will be to keep his
defense tight. In high profile games, especially away from home, he tends to be
defensive and doesn’t mind playing out a goalless draw. Chelsea have so far
conceded 6 goals in 4 league games and have only one clean sheet to show compared to 24 in the whole of last season. Though
a few of those can be put down to having a new goalkeeper in the side, most
have been due to poor defending. Expect a tactical game with not too many goals
being scored.
Interesting read. Keep blogging.
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