Chelsea and Manchester City, England’s two most successful clubs this Millennium with 20 and 18 major trophies respectively, meet this weekend in a top-billed Premier League clash at Stamford Bridge.

This is the second time the Blues have played host in the 4.30pm Sunday slot, and the first since the opening weekend in August.

Mauricio Pochettino’s side have had a clear week since trashing Tottenham’s unbeaten run on Monday; on Tuesday, the Citizens enjoyed an easy 3-0 win at home to Young Boys in the Champions League. The international break follows this game.

Pep Guardiola once said there are teams that wait for you and teams that look for you; Pochettino’s team looks for you. The two coaches have locked horns many times, Poch’s first ever victory as a coach being 2-1 in a bottom-beats-top Barcelona derby in February 2009.

The maiden win of his Southampton days was against Man City in 2013; Spurs delivered Guardiola’s first loss as the Citizens’ boss; and Paris Saint-Germain beat the Mancunians in the pair’s penultimate meeting during the 2021/22 Champions League group stage. Overall, though, the City coach has the upper hand with 13 wins from 22 encounters.

No current Chelsea squad player has scored for us against the Citizens in the top flight, but in-form Raheem Sterling and Cole Palmer are facing their former club.

Team news

Pochettino’s young side will be all the stronger for coming out of the chaos and emotion of a big derby occasion much better than the confident, experienced hosts. But against Sunday’s blink-and-you’re-dead opponents they cannot afford to start as sloppily as they did at Tottenham.

Enzo Fernandez hopefully suffered no serious effects from international team-mate Cristian Romero’s reckless challenge just as the midfield chemistry with Moises Caicedo and the more advanced Conor Gallagher has started to bubble nicely. Between them, the trio gained almost 600 yards’ ground towards Spurs’ goal with their incisive passing. Should Enzo not make it, Lesley Ugochukwu is the natural replacement. Gallagher has won possession in the final third 18 times, more than anyone across Europe’s top five leagues.

Chelsea’s forwards eventually showed how devastating they can be against a high defensive line, and will hope to benefit from that kind of supply. The expected goals (xG) measure of 3.9 in that match was our highest since the 6-0 at Southampton in April 2022.

City’s habit of leaving only two defenders back when attacking means retrieving the ball and quickly delivering it to attackers will be equally essential on Sunday. It is one of the champions’ very few weak spots.

Over a pulsating 111 minutes Nico Jackson became only the second Chelsea player to net a hat-trick at Tottenham in any competition since 1909 after Tore Andre Flo in the legendary ‘6-1 at the Lane’ of December 1997. (Shoutout to Tony Cascarino in the 1993 Makita Cup, of course.) He is now three shy of our top goalscorers from the whole of last season.

The remarkably cool dispatch by Palmer, who faces his former club this weekend, delivered a third penalty goal in four league matches. The 21-year-old has now played more minutes in London than Manchester and will be keen to show his former coach what he overlooked.

At the back, Benoit Badiashile may receive the nod as the Blues’ closest physical match to Erling Haaland as well as a threat at set-plays. Skipper Reece James is sure to start and, on the left, Levi Colwill may be preferred to the more swashbuckling Marc Cucurella.

The first goal might well prove decisive. City have only won all eight games in which they have taken the lead, but lost three of the four matches when trailing. Chelsea, meanwhile, have led in five matches and won four of them, drawing the other against Arsenal.

Goal contributions all comps 2023/24

Cole Palmer

3 goals

4 assists

7 in total

Nicolas Jackson

6

6

Raheem Sterling

4

1

5

Conor Gallagher

3

3

Misha Mudryk

2

2

Malo Gusto

2

2

Benoit Badiashile

1

1

Armando Broja

1

1

Carney Chukwuemeka

1

1

Axel Disasi

1

1

Enzo Fernandez

1

1

Noni Madueke

1

1

Ben Chilwell

1

1

Levi Colwill

1

1

Opposition scout – Manchester City

Haaland was among the goals again in midweek, putting to rest suggestions the league’s leading scorer might miss this fixture. His usual muse remains sidelined, though: one-time Blue Kevin de Bruyne set up no fewer than eight of the Norway marksman’s goals last season.

Ruled out, too, are two of the three centre-backs who coasted past Bournemouth last weekend, John Stones and Manuel Akanji. The England man has excelled as an old-school libero, stepping into midfield when City have the ball to spray the ball and keep opponents pinned back. That augmented role is less likely for Cobham graduate Nathan Ake should he be selected alongside Ruben Dias this weekend.

That could also mean a more conservative approach for influential central midfielder Rodri (who was suspended for all three of City’s domestic defeats this season), though full-backs Josep Gvardiol and Kyle Walker will still charge forward or cut inside whenever possible. Another former favourite, Mateo Kovacic, makes his first return to the Bridge.

Although Jeremy Doku is emerging as a dangerous player, his left-sided ingenuity contributing to five of their half-dozen strikes against Bournemouth, before then the Belgian winger’s tally had been one goal and one assist.

It’s vital Chelsea remain defensively vigilant for the whole game (even if it stretches to Spurs away proportions) as Pep Guardiola’s side have scored just three away goals in the first half of matches, but a league high of nine after the break.

Chelsea vs Manchester City – the history

Six straight defeats to Manchester City across all competitions since 2021 will not be a source of confidence, although only two were at the Bridge. Prior to back-to-back 1-0 losses at Stamford Bridge, the Londoners’ most recent home league win came behind closed doors on 25 June 2020, a Willian penalty (plus red card for Fernandinho) clinching the three points for Frank Lampard’s men after De Bruyne had equalised Christian Pulisic’s opener.

You have to go back to 8 December 2018 for the Blues’ most recent top-flight win at a full Stamford Bridge, a thumped finish from N’Golo Kante and David Luiz’s deft header sealing the 2-0.

That was Chelsea’s 25th victory over the Citizens in the Premier League, making us the most successful side against them at the time (Arsenal and Tottenham had both beaten them 23 times).

There is, of course, the small matter of the May 2021 Champions League final at Estadio do Dragao, in which Kai Havertz’s slick goal claimed the prize.

Home improvements

Chelsea have so far accrued two-thirds of our points on the road. Despite having the third best away record (from one match fewer than the leading two), the Blues rank 13th on home form.

Breaking down the low defensive block often adopted by visitors has been a significant factor, and it’s a tactic City are unlikely to bring to Stamford Bridge. Monday at Tottenham was the latest exhibition of what the Blues can do against teams who press with a high line, though clearly there are improvements that can still be made in patience and efficiency.

In matches between the so-called top six, Chelsea have fared pretty well, remaining unbeaten after three encounters with draws against Arsenal and Liverpool, while ending Spurs’ long unbeaten run on Monday.

G

W

D

L

GD

PtspG

1 Arsenal

4

2

2

3

2

2 Tottenham

4

2

1

1

–

1.75

3 Chelsea

3

1

2

3

1.66

4 Man City

2

1

1

2

1.5

5 Liverpool

2

1

1

-1

0.5

6 Man United

3

3

-7

Them’s the breaks

FIFA’s final pause for internationals this year begins after the weekend. Club football then has a largely uninterrupted run until mid-March and the last international break before the summer Euros in Germany and Olympics in France.

The exception is the prestigious Africa Cup of Nations (13 January to 11 February 2024, postponed from summer 2023), which will take a considerable number of Premier League players to host nation Cameroon.

It’s likely only one Chelsea man, Senegal striker Nicolas Jackson, will report for duty but other clubs could be affected far more. West Ham and Sheffield United may have to cope without four players each, while Nottingham Forest’s squad could be stripped of seven.

Hat-trick heroes

On Monday Nicolas Jackson, at 22 years and 139 days, became the third youngest Chelsea player to score a Premier League hat-trick after Tammy Abraham (21 years, 347 days) and freshest of the lot, Christian Pulisic (21 years, 38 days).

He follows Mason Mount (against Norwich in 2021) and 74 others in royal blue to have scored three goals in a single match.

Jimmy Greaves notched a club record 13 hat-tricks, the first coming against Portsmouth on Christmas Day 1957, two months shy of his 18th birthday.

Remembering lives lost

As this match is the closest to 11 November at Stamford Bridge, the crowd will be asked to commemorate those who have lost their lives in conflict across the world, including World War One soldier George Lake. The only serving Chelsea first-team player to die in the 1914-18 conflict, George joined the Londoners from Man City, for whom his great nephew, Paul Lake, was a midfielder in the late 1980s and 1990s.

The club will support the Royal British Legion’s appeal with poppy-sellers outside the ground and inside with the laying of wreaths and a display by fans at both ends. A minute’s silence will take place before kick-off, with ‘The Last Post’ played by a trumpeter from the Central Band of the Royal Air Force.

Earlier on Sunday, when Chelsea Women meet Everton Women in the WSL, four members of the Armed Forces will take charge. The quartet will comprise of referee Lauren Impey (RAF), assistant referees Levi Gray and Gareth Dunn (both Army) and fourth official Adewunmi Soneye (Ex-Navy).

This is a landmark moment for the Barclays Women’s Super League. It is the first time any fixture in the women’s game has featured an officials team consisting entirely of former or current Armed Forces personnel.