Prediction: Chelsea vs Manchester City

19th March 2011

All eyes will be on Stamford Bridge on Sunday afternoon with Chelsea set to welcome Manchester City in what should be a very interesting match. The London Blues are the favourites here, where City need to show they have what it takes to match the big guns in the Premiership.

We can finally say that Chelsea have overcome the rough patch that cost them the title race, as the Blues have shown a real improvement during the last few weeks. After dropping out of the FA Cup, the Blues beat Manchester United and Blackpool in the Premiership, while easily qualifying for the Champions League quarter-finals, where they will face the other team from Manchester. Carlo Ancelotti’s side now have a great chance to dislodge Manchester City from the third place in the standings and make a big step towards the Champions League qualification, so there is no doubt the hosts will give everything to win this match. The hosts still have problems in attack since Drogba, Torres and Anelka are hardly in the best possible form, but the good news is that their build-up play has improved significantly, while the return of Yuri Zhirkov has given Ancelotti a new dimension in midfield. Alex and Benayoun are still not ready to return, but the main thing is that there are no fresh injury worries.

Manchester City have been recording pretty good results this season, but their showings are simply not good enough for the team supposedly fighting for the top 4 finish. Despite the heavy investments in the squad, the Citizens tend to struggle even against the weakest opponents and win most of their games thanks to individual quality of their players. This is clearly not the right way to go, as witnessed by their easy elimination from the Europa League at the hands of Dynamo Kiev. The lack of discipline is more than evident, with Mario Balotelli picking up red cards on regular basis, so it is little wonder Roberto Mancini considers dropping him from the starting line-up for the Chelsea clash. With no cohesion in the squad and not even a sign of team spirit, City don’t look capable of getting something from this clash. The good news is that James Milner and Adam Johnson have returned into action, but Shay Given, Kolo Toure and Pablo Zabaleta are unavailable.

Conclusion

Chelsea have really raised their game of late and it looks as though nothing can stop them from winning this game. Manchester City are going through a very rough patch at the moment and they are showing absolutely no signs of promise. Backing Chelsea to win this one could be one of the best football predictions this weekend.

Verdict: Home win Chelsea (1)

Best Odds: 8/11

Bookmaker: Paddy Power