In their last 10 meetings with Manchester City at Stamford Bridge Chelsea have won an impressive 6 games, drawing 2 and losing just twice.
Chelsea went down to a 3-0 defeat in this same match last season with Sergio Aguero notching a hat-trick but the Blues have not lost back-to-back home league games vs the Sky Blues since way back in December of 1983.
Aguero does have a decent record against Chelsea as he has scored 6 Premier League goals with an impressive 4 of those tallies coming at Chelsea’s home so Gary Cahill, David Luiz and Cesar Azpilicueta will have to be on their game to keep the crafty Argentinian quiet assuming they are selected as expected.
Antonio Conte hasn’t suffered back-to-back home defeats in management since he was in charge of Atalanta in Italy way back in the winter of 2009 and Chelsea as a club have not lost consecutive home matches in the League since Andre Villas-Boas was the boss in November of 2011 plus as mentioned earlier the Blues have only lost 2 of their last 10 home fixtures vs City. So history suggests Chelsea will bounce back from their home loss to Crystal Palace on Saturday.
Chelsea have only lost once in their past 6 games in the Premier League (last time out of course vs Palace) while drawing once with 4 victories. Conte will have a full squad to chose from as only Victor Moses is a doubt facing a late fitness over his toe injury plus Eden Hazard will be in his second game back from injury so the Blues’ manager will be looking for his team to return to winning ways.
Diego Costa has been relatively quiet on the goal-scoring front lately but he is overdue to bulge the net and he enjoyed one of his very best games against Man City in early December when he led his team to a come-from-behind 3-1 victory. The big striker was totally dominant that day bullying the City defence, scoring a goal and leading the line with total authority. Willian and Eden Hazard added the other goals as Chelsea broke the spirit of the Citizens with Sergio Aguero getting a late red card for a really nasty challenge on David Luiz.
Man City come into tonight’s match unbeaten in their last 6 Premier League games but they have only won 3 matches while drawing 3 as well. Over his career in management so far Pep Guardiola has not lost home and away league games against an opponent. Manchester City have a good record on their travels to London in recent times having won 3 games, drawn 2 and only recorded a single loss in their 6 previous games in the British capital. The Citizens will be looking to form man Kevin De Bruyne to be their provider as the Belgian playmaker has already assisted on 13 goals this season for them in all competitions, which is 1 more than he accumulated last season plus he will be returning to his former club which will likely further motivate him.
We think that the game will be a tight affair with so much to play for at this stage in the season but we expect Diego Costa will come back into scoring form and lead the Blues to a tight 2-1 victory as Chelsea will return to winning ways.