Manchester City and Chelsea face off again after the frosty meeting at Stanford bridge on Thursday night. The blues will be itching to make things right after City narrowly edged them in the PL.
While this could be a much more open encounter as both teams will be looking to rotate their squads, Nets are likely to be rattled. However, for Chelsea and Potter, the days are getting darker with injuries. While Potter could take encouragement from the display on Thursday night, there’s a damning need to steer the blues towards a positive result on Sunday.
Manchester City team news :
Despite playing on Thursday, City only have Ruben Dias and Aymeric Laporte ruled out of this mouthwatering FA cup tie at the Etihad. World cup hero Julian Alvarez should be set to make a return to the starting XI against the Londoners. Mahrez, Grealish and Kalvin Philips are also expected to come in from the start.
Chelsea team news :
Chelsea have no fewer than 10 players on the sidelines for this encounter. While Sterling and Pulisic are both expected to miss out after coming off in the early stages of the game on Thursday night, Mason
Mount has travelled with the squad to Manchester after sustaining a knock in training prior to the Thursday game. Broja, Mendy, Kante, Loftus Cheek, Chilwell, Reece James and Wesley Fofana are all expected to miss out as well.
Although, Chilwell and Loftus Cheek are nearing a come back from injury but are expected not to be risked by Potter. Jorginho, Aubamayang, Hall, Chukwuemeka and Hutchinson are all expected to come in from the start today.
Manchester City vs Chelsea potential line ups :
Manchester City XI Ortega, Lewis, Stones, Akanji, Cancelo, Philips, Gundogan, De Bryune, Grealish, Alvarez, Mahrez.
Chelsea potential line up :
Kepa, Azpilicueta, Chalobah, Koulibaly, Hall, Jorginho, Zakaria, Chukwuemeka, Ziyech, Havertz, Aubameyang.
My preferred Chelsea line up :
(4-2-3-1) Kepa, Azpilicueta, Chalobah, Koulibally, Hall, Jorginho, Gallagher, Hutchinson, Chukwuemeka, Ziyech, Aubameyang.
Score prediction…. Manchester City 2:0 Chelsea
From an Injury crisis to a lack of form, lack of goals and clean sheets. Chelsea are in the worst possible state mentally and physically and this game could be a continuation of defeats for Chelsea which would mean Graham Potter would be with 1 win in the last 10 games.
