Chelsea’s biggest test

The Blues have been out of shape for weeks and are down to 8th in the table. A place in the Champions League is becoming more and more a distant prospect and now the reigning champions, Manchester City, are also waiting for the Blues. The guests are playing another good season, but they are also falling short of their own expectations. After all, they are already 7 points short of Arsenal.

A real treat awaits us in the Premier League on Thursday, when Chelsea meets Manchester City. While the guests are in a decent 2nd place in the table, Chelsea have been disappointing across the board so far. Despite a change of coach, the Blues are unable to find their way into the Spurs and are only 8th in the table. City are a lot more stable than the hosts, but they won't be completely satisfied with their season either. With 36 points under their belt, they are already 7 points behind leaders Arsenal. A defeat is therefore also forbidden for them.

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Chelsea analysis

Slowly but surely there are increasing worries about Chelsea. The top club keeps sliding down the table and can now only be found in 8th place. They have only won once in their last 7 Premier League games and it was at home against newly promoted Bournemouth. With 25 points on their account, they are already 7 points behind the fourth position that leads to the Champions League. Nobody will talk about the championship anyway. Coach Graham Potter was supposed to lead the club back up, but so far this plan doesn't seem to be working.

After all, Chelsea have not lost a game since the World Cup break. However, after beating AFC Bournemouth 2-0, they were only able to draw 1-1 at Nottingham Forest on the last day of the game. However, 4 points against two promoted teams is certainly not enough for a Big Six club. They managed to score at least one goal in both games. Before the World Cup, the team remained 3 games without their own goal.

They have had offensive problems throughout the season. They have only scored 20 goals in their 16 league games so far. The top scorers with 4 goals each are Raheem Sterling and Kai Havertz. Only 4 players in the squad scored more than one goal in the game. Now the Blues have secured a 20-year-old striker from Molde in David Datro Fofana. However, it can at least be doubted that this will be used immediately. With Kai Havertz, Graham Potter seems to have found his number 1 striker for the time being.

One strength Chelsea will definitely bet on against Man City is their home strength. While they only have a negative record away from home, they have only lost one game at home. Although they are only in 8th place in this table, this is also due to the fact that they have played fewer home games than the competition.The record of 4 wins, 2 draws and one defeat is very good. First and foremost, this is due to a good defense that has only allowed 6 goals so far. At least 12 goals were scored offensively, but this means less than 2.00 goals per game on average. Their only home defeat so far came at home to Arsenal. It was also the only game in front of their own fans where they couldn't score.

The direct record in the recent past also does not speak for Chelsea. They lost all of the last 3 duels and they didn't even score a single goal. All 3 games ended with less than 2.5 goals. In general, this was even the case in the past 4 games. Before the 3 defeats, Chelsea was also able to prevail for the 3rd time in a row. There hasn't actually been a draw between the two since 2015. In London, the record is even with 2 wins for each team in the last 4 games.

Manchester City analysis

Manchester City is still the absolute top favorite for many bookmakers for the title in the current season. This is now quite surprising, because after the last matchday they are already 7 points behind leaders Arsenal. Although they're having a good season, they're missing the sovereignty they've had in recent years. The 3 draws and 2 defeats in 16 games show this quite clearly. Points are often left behind, especially away from home. For City standards, 4 wins from 7 away games is not particularly strong. Above all, they have not even scored 2.00 goals per away game in the season so far.

The reigning champions are anything but a bad season this year, but they already have their backs to the wall. They are 7 points behind Arsenal and could grow to 10 points if they lose again . After just one win from the last 3 games, the Skyblues are under pressure. While they are still the best home team in the league, they often have problems away from home. City didn't manage to win more than 3 games in a row this year. The two defeats they conceded in the duels against Liverpool FC and Brentford FC. Now they want to go back to winning ways against Chelsea. 

It's hard to imagine how Manchester City could win the championship without Haaland. Within a few months, the Norwegian developed into possibly the best player in the Citizens. With 21 goals in just 16 games, he is the top scorer in England. He was responsible for more than half of all City goals, with a total of 40 goals. He has failed to score in just 3 Premier League games this season. After the World Cup break, he scored 3 goals in the last two games. In the game against Chelsea he will also go back to the hunt for goals. His place in the attack is now set.

Chelsea - Manchester City: What to expect? 

It is undoubtedly a top game in the English Premier League. However, Chelsea recently slipped into mid-table. The form of the Blues is anything but good at the moment, which is why we slightly prefer the guests from Manchester. However, the direct duels have shown us that this duel usually ends with a close result. We therefore again suspect Under 2.5 goals. It is also quite likely that only one team will score.

• Under 2.5 at odds of 2.08
• Both Teams To Score No at odds of 1.96

* All odds and markets are correct at time of publication and subject to change.