Chelsea vs Man City Preview & Prediction | 2024-25 English Premier League
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Formerly an assistant coach to Pep Guardiola at Manchester City, Enzo Maresca takes charge of his first ever Premier League game in the Chelsea dugout and is welcoming the defending champions to Stamford Bridge on the opening day of the season.
KICK-OFF DATE/TIME: Sunday 18th August, 2024 - UK – 4:30pm / US ET – 11:30am / US PT – 8:30am
HOW TO WATCH ON TV: UK – Sky Sports / US – NBC & Telemundo
HOW TO WATCH ONLINE: UK – Sky Go / US – Fubo, Sling Blue & DirecTV Stream
CHELSEA PREVIEW: CONFUSING AND CHAOTIC CHELSEA
Enzo Maresca eventually led Leicester City to the Championship title last season, despite what was almost one of the greatest ‘bottlejobs’, for want of a better phrase, in the second-half of the campaign. He has his work seriously cut out at Stamford Bridge this summer with the bizarre strategies of BlueCo and Todd Boehly in charge of the club.
They have seemingly taken a UEFA Champions League winning squad and made it into a mid-table side, despite spending well over £1 billion since Boehly’s takeover of the club in the summer of 2022. Chelsea have a muddled squad with no real selection hierarchy and it just all seems a bit confused.
MAN CITY PREVIEW: THE POTENTIAL END OF AN ERA
Once again, even when not at their absolute best and that was shown by a fairly mediocre record against other members of the so-called ‘big six’, Manchester City won the Premier League title for what was the fourth successive season and was their sixth Premier League title in seven seasons.
The ability to dominate what is apparently the most competitive league in the world is down to an abundance of playing talent and off-the-pitch clarity but the management of Pep Guardiola has been paramount. The Catalan coach will make a decision on his future this season, though, with this currently being the last year of his contract.
CHELSEA TEAM NEWS: SENIOR MEN UNAVAILABLE
Club captain and the injury prone Reece James is once again sidelined with a minor injury issue but the England international would have been unavailable anyway due to suspension after picking up a red card towards the end of last season.
Conor Gallagher, who is sorting out his future amid a move to Atletico Madrid, is unavailable for the Blues but the likes of Wesley Fofana, Romeo Lavia and Christopher Nkunku are all expected to be in the Chelsea squad.
PREDICTED XI (4-2-3-1): Sanchez; Gusto, Disasi, Colwill, Cucurella; Fernandez, Moises Caicedo; Palmer, Dewsbury-Hall, Sterling; Jackson
UNAVAILABLE: Petrovic (Injured), James (Suspended), Gallagher (Transfer speculation), Kellyman (Injured)
QUESTIONABLE:
MAN CITY TEAM NEWS: SLOW RETURN OF EURO STARS
Pep Guardiola has confirmed that his UEFA EURO 2024 finalists, John Stones, Kyle Walker, Phil Foden and Rodri, will be available for 'some minutes' for their opening day of the season clash at Stamford Bridge.
The former Barcelona coach has had to confirm that Oscar Bobb will be out for a while, though, after the young Norwegian suffered a significant injury in training this week.
PREDICTED XI (4-1-4-1): Ederson; Lewis, Akanji, Dias, Gvardiol; Kovacic; Silva, De Bruyne, McAtee, Savio; Haaland
UNAVAILABLE: Bobb (Injured)
QUESTIONABLE: Grealish (Injured)
CHELSEA VS MAN CITY PREDICTION
Last season, with Mauricio Pochettino at the helm and seemingly in the process of actually building something at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea and Manchester City shared a thrilling 4-4 draw in the autumn. Manchester City will be expected to grind out victories once again and they are beginning against a team in complete flux and off the back of a really poor pre-season. It is a bit dull but City to win and potentially win quite comfortably seems the likeliest outcome of this one.
CHELSEA VS MAN CITY TIP: MAN CITY TO WIN
