Manchester City vs Chelsea confirmed line-ups: Team news ahead of Premier League fixture today
Pep Guardiola is back on the touchline and will be hoping his Manchester City side will be able to put one hand on the Premier League trophy with a win at home to Chelsea.
Guardiola’s side struggled in their last Premier League outing, despite winning at Arsenal, and will be hoping for a much more convincing display in front of their home fans.
Chelsea will need a similar performance of their Champions League final victory between the two sides last year, to reignite any hopes of putting on a title challenge.
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Romelu Lukaku is set to start his first game in the league since his controversial interview regarding his time at the club so far, and Chelsea fans will hope he can crown it with a goal.
Here’s all you need to know ahead of the game.
When is the match?
The game kicks off at 12:30pm GMT on Saturday 15 January at the Etihad Stadium.
Where can I watch it?
The match will be shown on BT Sport 1 and BT Sport Ultimate, with coverage beginning at 11:30am. Subscribers can also stream the fixture via the BT Sport app.
What was the pre-match team news?
Chelsea will be without their star goalkeeper, Edouard Mendy, who is representing Senegal at the African Cup of Nations. Reece James is still not able to feature, and his fellow full-back Ben Chilwell is still nursing a long-term injury.
However, the Blues will be boosted by the returns of N'Golo Kante and Thiago Silva. The pair made cameos from the bench on Wednesday against Spurs after recovering from Covid-19.
Manchester City have Riyad Mahrez missing as he is with the Algeria squad at AFCON. Man. City are also dealing with a Covid outbreak, as seen from their FA cup squad, and will be hoping that the players affected will recover in time for this grudge match.
Confirmed line-ups
Manchester City XI: Ederson; Walker, Stones, Laporte, Cancelo; Rodri, De Bruyne, Bernardo Silva; Sterling, Grealish, Foden
Chelsea XI: Kepa; Sarr, Thiago Silva, Rudiger; Azpilicueta, Kante, Kovacic, Alonso; Pulisic, Ziyech; Lukaku
Odds
Manchester City 8/11
Draw 3/1
Chelsea 22/5
Prediction
Chelsea will be full of confidence from their dominant midweek performance away at Spurs, but it won’t be enough against the reigning, and most likely future, Premier League winners. Manchester City 2-0 Chelsea
