Manchester City vs. Chelsea: How the Blues Will Line Up in Premier League Game

Chelsea travel to Manchester City on Sunday to face their first challenge of the Premier League season. The Blues are currently sitting pretty at the top of the table with four wins from four, having scored 15 goals in the process. Defending champions Manchester City have had a less auspicious start, with a 2-2 draw at Arsenal and a 1-0 defeat by Stoke City seeing them in fifth place.

Chelsea broke the Citizens’ unbeaten home record last season with a 1-0 win at the Etihad in February, and Jose Mourinho will want a repeat of the efficient team performance that secured that victory.

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Jose: 'It's one more game and three more points but when matches are between title contenders, every point makes a difference.' #CFC

— Chelsea FC (@chelseafc) September 19, 2014"

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Jose: 'We know what it's like to win there and lose there. I watched last season's games to identify the differences.' #CFC

— Chelsea FC (@chelseafc) September 19, 2014"

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Jose: 'I don't want to compare squads but ours is better than it was last season, we have more solutions. We have a good balance.' #CFC

— Chelsea FC (@chelseafc) September 19, 2014"

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Jose: 'We respect City totally because they deserve it, but we believe in ourselves.' #CFC

— Chelsea FC (@chelseafc) September 19, 2014"

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Jose: 'The perfect situation is to score a lot of goals and not concede, and we have to chase that perfection.' #CFC

— Chelsea FC (@chelseafc) September 19, 2014"

The back four will have to keep City’s world-class attack quiet if Chelsea are to stand any chance of winning.

Filipe Luis was handed his full debut against Schalke 04 in the Champions League and put in an impressive performance, winning four tackles and making the same number of clearances and interceptions. Luis is a more defensive full-back than Cesar Azpilicueta and with City’s attacking threat, he should keep his place in the starting XI for this match.

John Terry has started every game so far alongside Gary Cahill, but the captain’s age will make it difficult for him to continue playing twice a week throughout the season. Branislav Ivanovic could move across to centre-half to replace him for this match, but the Serbian’s attacking tendencies would represent too much of a risk for such an important game. Rather, he should remain on the right with Terry and Cahill continuing their centre-half partnership.

Nemanja Matic was one of the key players in the 1-0 victory last season, largely because of the way he kept Yaya Toure out of the game. Although this season he has been paired with Cesc Fabregas in the holding role, John Obi Mikel could be in line for his first start of the season to help Matic provide defensive cover for the back four.

With six assists and 16 key passes in the league so far, Fabregas is unlikely to find himself on the bench. Instead, he will likely play in the No. 10 role on Sunday, flanked by Eden Hazard and Andre Schurrle.

The German was hauled off at half-time after a sub-standard performance against Swansea City but should be given the chance to make amends at City. His pace and passing vision will be key to feeding the striker, and he will know that if he doesn’t perform, Willian will be waiting to take his place.

Mourinho benched Diego Costa for the Schalke game as the striker is apparently unable to play three matches in a week due to his ongoing hamstring troubles, per BBC Sport. However, his seven goals in four games should see him returned to his rightful place up front on Sunday.

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The Blues will be disappointed with their draw in the Champions League, but it was a better result than City’s last-minute capitulation to Bayern Munich. After a fairly poor start to the season, the Citizens will want to boost their confidence with a win over Chelsea, and the Blues will need to be at their very best to stop them from achieving that aim.

Statistics per WhoScored.com unless otherwise noted. 

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