Chelsea travel to north-west as they face Manchester City in what promises to be a battle of two of the three best sides in Premier League at the moment and has already been labelled by pundits as a prospective title-decider.
Chelsea are coming off a disappointing stalemate against West Ham United, when they failed to score in spite of having 25+ shots at Stamford Bridge. Manchester City, on the contrary, disposed off Tottenham in a 5-1 win at White Hart Lane.
Jose Mourinho has adopted a conservative approach while facing top sides away this season, but City will prove to be a different ball-game than Arsenal & Manchester United did. A point away at Etihad should be good while three points should be a definite bonus considering the recent form of the Citizens.
DATE & TIME: February 3, 2014 at 15:00 EST; February 3, 2014 at 20:00 GMT; February 3, 2014 at 21:00 WAT; February 3, 2014 at 22:00 CAT; February 3, 2014 at 23:00 EAT; February 4, 2014 at 01:30 IST.
VENUE: The Etihad Stadium, Manchester, England.
TV/STREAMING NEWS: The match will be telecast live on Fox Sports 1 on Australia, Supersport 3 Africa in African sub-continent, TSN2 in Canada, DIRECTV in Colombia, beIN Sports Arabia 1/11 HD in Egypt, Canal+ Sport in France, Sky Sport 1/HD in Germany, Star Sports 4 & Star Sports HD2 in India, Fox Sports HD in Italy, J Sports 4 in Japan, Astro Supersport HD in Malaysia, Fox Sports 2 in Netherlands, Canal+ Fútbol/HD, Gol Stadium & Gol T in Spain, beIN Sports Arabia 1/11 HD in UAE, BBC One/Manchester, Sky Sports 1/HD/3D in UK and NBCSN in USA.
The match is available online on Sky Go in Germany & UK and NBC Sports Live Extra in USA.
Chelsea TV will have live audio of the game.
You can also catch the game on BBC Radio 5 Live in UK and TalkSport Radio if you’re in Australia, Canada, Malaysia or US.
MANCHESTER CITY FC SQUAD NEWS: Samir Nasri, Javi Garcia and James Milner will miss the game due to injuries. Sergio Aguero picked up a hamstring problem recently and will miss the game as well.
Predicted Starting XI: Hart, Zabaleta, Kompany, Demichelis, Clichy, Navas, Touré, Fernandinho, Silva, Dzeko, Negredo.
CHELSEA FC SQUAD NEWS: Chelsea have a relatively clean bill of health except for Fernando Torres and Marco van Ginkel.
Predicted Starting XI: Cech, Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry, Azpilicueta, Matíc, Ramires, Willian, Oscar, Hazard, Eto’o.
REFEREE: Mike Dean.
FORM INDEX: Manchester City – WWWWWW; Chelsea – WWWWWD.
THOUGHTS FROM THE ENEMY: Manuel Pellegrini insists the Chelsea game won’t decide the course of the title & his team will take one game at a time.
“Apart from the fact that Arsenal, Liverpool and Everton are still in the running there will be 42 points to play for after the Chelsea game. Anything can still happen. I keep hearing we are going to score 200 goals and win all four trophies. It is my job to make certain the players don’t believe all that and I am absolutely sure they don’t. They know perfectly well that the only target is to beat Chelsea in the next game. We are not invincible, no team is invincible. We are in a very good moment, but the difference between a win and a loss is so slight, in every match it is possible you can lose.”
FUN TRIVIA:
- Chelsea have the tightest defense in the Premier League, conceding 20 goals in 23 matches, including 9 clean sheets.
- Manchester City have scored 42 goals at home in the Premier League.
- Manchester City have won their last 11 home matches in the Premier League.
- If selected, Gary Cahill will make his 50th Premier League start for the club.
Chelsea will face the toughest battle of this season when they play City away, who have been in a rampant form at home. However, the Blues will take heart from the fact that they beat the Citizens in the reverse fixture. All in all, it promises to be an exuberant display of tactics & grit and is definitely the match to watch out for this gameweek.
“We try to win. Chelsea try to win every game. I have always said that about any competition or any game. What concerns me is my team playing well, my team trying to get the best possible result and to feel the improvement.”
Reblogged this on fahmicfc360's Blog.
Thats a good line up but you know the boss Mourinho always has his own line up. I hope Cole plays this game.
Chelseafc we will win this game by 2goals to 1 mark my word any doubters
If Chelsea want to win z game it is better to start with z fast Shucrrle or Salah. Have to utilize z speed and z distant shoot of Shurrle. If blue want to draw, it is better to start with 3 DM, Ramerise-Mikeal-Matic! Good result for Blue!! MC 0-1 CH.
If we really want to take anything from this match we need to adopt 4-3-3 system and changed to 4-2-3-1 in the 2nd half.We must start like this:
Cech
Ivanovic,Cahill,Terry,Azpilicueta
Matic,Mikel,Ramires
Hazard,Etoo,Oscar.
In the 2nd half,remove Matic for Willian and Etoo for either Schurrle or Ba.
Cech
Iva jt Cahill azpi
Luiz matic
Rami Oscar hazard
Eto
Cech
Iva – jt – Cahill – azpi
Rami -Luiz – matic
hazard – shrulle – william
With this team, Chelsea win or a draw.
cech
iva,cahil,tery,azpi
rami\mikel\matic
hazard\eto\salah.
i wil like jose 2 use 433 formation,but jose stil knows wat is better & i trust & pray 4 luck 2 be on our side.I predict 2-1 in favor of cfc.
———————-Cech———————–
Ivanovic—–Cahill——-Terry———Azphilcueta
————-Luiz——————Matic———–
————– ——-Ramires———————–
—-Willian————————————Hazard—
————————–Eto—————————-
Chelsea supporter pls tell Jose Mourinho to not to tell his players to play 16 century football bcuz he is noted for that tactics of play.