Chelsea vs Manchester City Prediction: Card for Cucurella at the Bridge

Manchester City may have delivered success in the recent Carabao Cup final and also generated further progress in this season’s FA Cup, but now they must get back to the main job at hand – hunting down Arsenal in the race for the Premier League title. There’s not a lot of road left for Pep Guardiola’s men; how will they fare in the last few laps of the campaign?

They visit Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Sunday (16:30 BST, Sky Sports Main Event), and although Liam Rosenior’s men will be boosted by their emphatic 7-0 win over Port Vale last weekend, the difficulty curve gets far steeper for their return to league action. The Blues currently sitting outside the top five, a return to the Champions League far from secured. Read on for my Chelsea vs Manchester City predictions, alongside the latest team news and match odds.

Team News

With Enzo Fernandez still dealing with the wrath of manager Rosenior, the Argentine will complete a club-imposed two match ban on Sunday. The former Benfica star is not the only player to criticise the running of the Stamford Bridge outfit, but teammate Marc Cucurella managed to escape any punishment.

Cucurella watched from the bench as the Blues made light work of Port Vale in the FA Cup last weekend, but the Spanish international is now expected to return to the starting XI at the expense of youngster Jorrel Hato.

Football Odds

As for Manchester City, Bernardo Silva is expected to start in the same week where it has been heavily hinted towards a summer departure from the Etihad. The 31-year-old played a key role in midfield last Saturday and after he and Rodri tortured their Liverpool counterparts, they will be tasked with doing the same at Stamford Bridge.

Which means there is only likely to be one change before the trip to the capital. James Trafford’s back-to-back appearances in both the League and FA Cup unlikely to be continued as Italian shot stopper Gianluigi Donnarumma is expected to take his place back between the sticks.

Chelsea vs Manchester City Odds

Chelsea are priced at 21/10 to win this game, with Manchester City the favourites at 11/10. That gives the away team an implied win probability of 47.6% while a draw can be backed at 3/1.

BTTS has been priced at 1/2 and over 2.5 goals is 8/15, while Erling Haaland is the favourite to score first at 11/4.

Manchester City -1 Handicap Win @ 11/4

Manchester City have certainly shown that they are up for the big occasions in recent weeks and although Sunday is just a Premier League game in isolation, it is undoubtedly the most important one of their season so far. They have to win to keep the title race alive - a race that also sees them host Arsenal next weekend.

Which means in my opinion, City will be able to live up to their status of pre-match favourites and earn maximum points. However, the way to extract maximum value from this is to give Chelsea a virtual head start of one goal and Guardiola’s men to win by at least two clear goals on the road.

Today's Football Fixtures

Marc Cucurella to be carded @ 9/4

With Cucurella set to return to the starting eleven on Sunday, he could be in for a rather busy afternoon and with Manchester City set to attack in waves, the Spanish international is going to have to be at his best to stop them.

Even if he is at his best, he has been prone to bouts of poor discipline. The former Brighton defender has already picked up five yellows and one red card in the league this season and with pacey wingers running at him, he will be a prime target for a caution or worse at Stamford Bridge.

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