A decade or so ago, this weekend’s upcoming clash with Manchester City would have been, and no disrespect to the Sky Blues, a formality.
During the 2005/06 season, Chelsea were the runaway Champions of England, winning the Premier League with a quite brilliant 91 points – eight clear of their closest rivals Manchester United.
Manchester City finished the season in 15th place with 43 points, four points behind Charlton Athletic in 13th.
Oh, how times change.
This season, City sit clear at the top of the Premier League table having won 24 of their 28 games so far – 16 points clear of second place United and 22 of fifth placed Chelsea.
They are not, although at times they seem it, unstoppable however. Liverpool and unlikely Wigan Athletic have proven it. So can the Blues cause the Cityzens their third upset of the campaign?
These two key battles could prove to be the difference at the weekend …
Victor Moses vs. Leroy Sane
‘Outstanding’, ‘Out of this world’, ‘like Ryan Giggs in his prime’. All of those statements were used to describe the performance of City winger Leroy Sane against Arsenal during mid-week. The German put in a Man of the Match performance, including a goal and an assist, during Pep Guardiola’s side’s 3-0 win at The Emirates on Thursday.
And the pundits were right. (except maybe the latter, Ryan Giggs was never THIS good).
The man given the monumental task of dealing with Sane this weekend will likely be Victor Moses. But if anyone is up to the task, it’s the Nigeria international.
Moses, a former bit-part player at Stamford Bridge, has established himself as one of the Blues’ key players over the past two seasons, as well as one of the league’s most reliable full-backs.
Strong, combative and with an excellent work-rate, Moses has it in the locker to keep Sane in his pocket, but equally Sane does so to run Moses ragged. An interesting match-up.
Kevin De Bruyne vs. N’golo Kante
Last weekend, it was a former Blue who came back to haunt Antonio Conte’s side in the form of Romelu Lukaku. The Belgian was on-hand with a goal and an assist in a 2-1 win for his new side Manchester United.
And it may just be a former Chelsea star/Belgian international from Manchester who will prove to be the Blues’ undoing this weekend too.
Kevin De Bruyne, sold by Chelsea in 2014, has proven himself to be one of Europe’s elite, and without doubt the Premier League’s best player this season.
N’golo Kante however, who won the prize of the Prem’s top dog last year, is not going to want to relinquish that honour without a fight. While the belt has already been won, the Frenchman is almost certain to go down swinging.