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Upon hosting the champions at Stamford Bridge on Sunday, CHELSEA will attempt to halt the rampaging Manchester City.
With five straight victories, Pep Guardiola’s team has bounced back from their 1-0 loss to Arsenal.
They are already ahead of Tottenham in the Premier League standings thanks to their recent success.
And as they aim to win a fourth straight championship, they seem to be becoming comfortable.
After a rocky start to the season, Chelsea is currently 12 points behind City.
The Blues have only won four of their eleven Premier League games, despite going on yet another spending spree in the summer.
The largest of those, though, occurred on Monday in a wild 4-1 victory over Tottenham, who had nine men on the field.
As Nicolas Jackson scored a hat-trick, the win gave Mauricio Pochettino’s team a much-needed confidence boost and catapulted them into the top half of the table.
However, Man City appear to be a very other kind of challenge, one Chelsea might not be prepared to meet just yet.
This is everything you need know before the match.
What shape do they take on?
Chelsea enters the match fresh off their finest victory of the year, a 4-1 victory away to Tottenham.
In all competitions, they would win three straight if they defeated Man City.
They did, however, appear to be gathering steam last month as they defeated Brentford 2-0 at home while also drawing with Arsenal and defeating Burnley and Fulham.
Can they therefore sustain their positive vibe a little bit longer this time?
In the meantime, City has won all five of their previous encounters, tallying 17 goals in the process.
However, they have a difficult stretch of games ahead of them, with matches against Liverpool, Tottenham, and Aston Villa.
Guardiola will therefore be eager to lead the pack going into the international break.
What is the team’s latest news? Are there any injuries to be concerned about?
Chelsea still has Ben Chilwell, Romeo Lavia, Trevoh Chalobah, Carney Chukwuemeka, and Christopher Nkunku out with injuries.
Although Armando Broja is anticipated to be available, Jackson ought to remain on the team.
After suffering an injury during the 3-1 victory over Young Boys in the middle of the week, Guardiola has revealed that John Stones will be off for a while.
In addition, Manuel Akanji will lose time due to a back ailment; Kevin De Bruyne and Sergio Gomez are remain out.
Who will be the men of stardom?
Raheem Sterling, Chelsea
Raheem Sterling was a continual source of trouble for Tottenham during Monday’s London derby.
The 28-year-old former Man City player set up Jackson’s first goal of his late hat-trick, setting up Spurs’ high line and ultimately breaking the hosts’ will.
He might pose the biggest threat to Guardiola’s team on Sunday and will be eager to make an impression against his old team.
Man City – Jeremy Doku
Jeremy Doku is fast rising to the top of Manchester City’s playing hierarchy.
The 21-year-old Belgian last weekend defeated Bournemouth 6-1 and scored FOUR goals.
In 15 games this season, he already has four goals and six assists.
Additionally, the former Rennes player is filling in as a crucial contributor for the Treble winners while Kevin de Bruyne remains out.
How did the management respond?
Following Chelsea’s victory over Tottenham, Pochettino stated: “I believe we were deserving of the victory. We put too much pressure on them to make errors.
“I believe we tied the game after Tottenham’s superior performance in the first fifteen minutes. Our performance, in my opinion, was strong and forced a mistake.
“I believe that everything that was visible during the game was fair.
“Yeah, we had previously spoken. I believe that we draw comparisons between games like the one Tottenham won today and the one Liverpool lost, depending on whether or not it was a comparable match. However, I believe that everything that occurred in the game today was fair.”
Stones’ injury was confirmed by Guardiola during Man City’s victory over Young Boys.
Sadly, John, he’s out again,” he uttered. He is a tremendous professional and devoted person, and I am very sorry for his loss.
“John is so important with what he does but yeah, recover, the season is long, and [he] will be back soon.”
Guardiola responded, “Yeah, think so,” when asked if Stones would be sidelined for some time.