Chelsea vs Man City Prediction: Champions can run riot

Super Sunday features a clash of two Premier League giants as Chelsea host Manchester City at 16:30. Below we’ve previewed the match and given a couple of betting selections for this mouthwatering encounter. 

Team News

Carney Chukwuemeka and Trevoh Chalaboh have both suffered setbacks in their respective recoveries, while summer signing Christoper Nkunku is likely to return after the international break. Romeo Lavia is getting closer to a return but Ben Chilwell and Wesley Fofana will be out for the foreseeable future. 

For Manchester City, the big concern is over John Stones. Having missed the first few months of the season, he was injured in the Champions League and is now expected to be out for some time. Kevin De Bruyne is ahead of schedule in his recovery but will still be out for a few more weeks, while Manuel Akanji is suffering from a back issue.

Match Odds

Chelsea are priced at 18/5 to win this match on home soil, while Manchester City are the favourites at 8/11. A draw is available at 11/4, BTTS is 8/11 and over 2.5 goals is the same price. 

Manchester City to win to nil @ 15/8

Even though they are odds-on favourites, I believe an outright Manchester City win is well worth backing on Sunday. Since the 2021 Champions League final, City have played Chelsea six times in all competitions, and beaten them on every occasion. Even better than that however, they haven’t even conceded a goal over those six fixtures. 

That is complete and utter domination from Pep Guardiola, and I expect more of the same here. I feel the odds have been slightly skewed here given Chelsea’s 4-1 win at Tottenham, but when it was eleven vs eleven, Mauricio Pochettino’s men were clearly second best. Even against nine men, they struggled until late in the game. 

Manchester City meanwhile won 3-0 in the Champions League in midweek and even with their injuries are probably the best side in the Premier League. I believe they will go to Stamford Bridge and put in another impressive display to take all three points, and they will stifle Chelsea’s attack, as they have done for the past two years.

Over 2.5 Man City goals @ 5/2

As mentioned, I believe Man City will win this game to nil, but I also believe they could enjoy a profitable day in front of goal. Brentford won 2-0 in Chelsea's last home league match, while Villa and Forest have also won at the Bridge this season. Against much tougher opposition, Chelsea could find themselves at odds and ends once more. 

City have also been in excellent goalscoring form recently. They’ve scored at least three goals in each of their last four matches. Twice against Young Boys, once against Manchester United and they hit six at home to Bournemouth in their last league outing. With this level of goalscoring form and Chelsea poor home run, I believe City can score three or four.

I’d also be tempted to put a small wager on the 12/1 on offer for Manchester City to win this game 3-0. There’s a clear difference in quality between these two sides, and I believe that will play out on the pitch on Sunday. 

Check out our other Football Bettings Tips here.