Chelsea vs Manchester City: How will hosts respond to Palace setback?
It’s difficult to look beyond tonight for a potentially season defining fixture when Chelsea welcome Manchester City to Stamford Bridge.The Blues will want to recover from their 2-1 defeat to Crystal Palace on Saturday, which saw their lead at the top of the Premier League table cut to seven points. City may have been held to a draw by Arsenal on Sunday, but victory on Wednesday night would move them to within eight points of Chelsea with eight games to play. It’s hardly a chasm and it’s possible to make up the ground.
Either way, Premier League fans will tune in to oversee the goings on at Stamford Bridge in midweek in a match that could provide another twist in the hunt for domestic glory. Prior to the weekend, the title was effectively Chelsea’s to lose. Tottenham were 10 points behind and while the ball remains in the Blues’ court despite that being cut to seven, there’s a renewed sense of hope that a premier League title race is back on the cards.
It’s vital, then, for Chelsea that they don’t slip up here. A win would be perfect, but to not lose would effectively rule another rival out of the race. For that reason the Blues will be eager to avoid a repeat of last season’s match up at Stamford Bridge, where City secured a 3-0 win courtesy of a Sergio Aguero hat-trick, that one of just two victories in their last 19 league visits to Chelsea. The Argentine made the headlines for all the wrong reasons when these two met at the Etihad Stadium back in December, with the striker red carded for an awful two-footed lunge on David Luiz.
He has positive previous with Chelsea, of course, having bagged nine goals against the Blues – against only Newcastle (11) and Tottenham (10) has he scored more goals, with the west London side among his favourite opponents. What’s more, Aguero’s goal in the 2-2 draw with Arsenal at the weekend means he has scored six goals in his last five Premier League starts in London, while only Alexis Sanchez (12) has scored more away goals than Aguero (10) in the Premier League this season. Chelsea’s home form may be impressive – only Tottenham (8) have conceded fewer goals than Antonio Conte’s side (10) on home turf in the Premier League this term – but six of those 10 have come in their last five outings at Stamford Bridge.
City have scored the most away goals (32) in the Premier League this season, which suggests Pep Guardiola’s side will find the back of the net on Wednesday night, with Aguero central to that. Conversely, the Blues have attacking threats of their own, primarily in the form of lead striker Diego Costa, who has scored eight goals at home this term, one of the better returns in the league. His 17 league goals in total puts him right in the mix to land the golden boot this term, and considering Chelsea’s notable goalscoring exploits on home turf – only Liverpool (39) have netted more home goals than Chelsea (37) this season – it’s the Spaniard who will most likely break the duck for the hosts where required.
With a conversion rate of 19.5%, it’ll take all of Costa’s goalscoring quality to find a way past City, who have kept three clean sheets in their last four away Premier League games. Tonight’s match up, then, is one of the most eagerly anticipated affairs this season. Guardiola will want to exact revenge following the 3-1 home loss this term, while Conte is expected to demand an immediate response from his players in the wake of the surprise reverse to Palace. Both strikers are able to hit the back of the net at the drop of a hat, which only adds to the occasion in the capital.
