Five things to look out for - Manchester City vs Chelsea

01/24/2025 06:17 PM

City host former assistant manager Enzo Maresca's side in the Premier League

Manchester City will be looking to bounce back from midweek UEFA Champions League disappointment as they welcome Chelsea to the Etihad Stadium.

City threw another two goal lead away as they lost 4-2 to PSG, leaving their qualification hopes at serious risk.

Chelsea, meanwhile, have only won one of their last six Premier League matches but remain fourth in the table and know that victory means they could pull five points clear of City in fifth place.

Here are five things to look out for in the clash between the two sides in Blue:

Debuts for the new signings

Pep Guardiola confirmed in his pre-match press conference that whilst Jeremy Doku, Oscar Bobb, Ruben Dias and Nathan Ake are out injured, City will be boosted by having all three of their January signings in the squad.

Abdukodir Khusanov, Vitor Reis and Omar Marmoush have all been announced since City beat Ipswich Town 6-0 last week, and whilst they're not being able to be registered yet in the Champions League, all three can play as of tomorrow.

The two young centre backs - if trusted - could play an important role. Dias and Ake are out, Manuel Akanji is running on fumes and is out of form and John Stones is not trusted to remain fit so likely to be on the bench for the next few weeks at least.

Khusanov in particular could be given the early chance to impress by starting against Chelsea and down the other end of the pitch, it'd hardly be surprising to see Marmoush start up front with Erling Haaland, Kevin de Bruyne and Phil Foden.

Guardiola said that he thinks Khusanov and Marmoush in particular will settle in quickly, and that they can provide City with the much needed energy and spark that they've been lacking most of the time.

Lewis starting again

He's sat on the bench for a few games behind Matheus Nunes, but I think we'll see Rico Lewis start instead of the Portuguese international against Chelsea.

He had been looking burned out after playing more minutes than ever before, and that was exemplifying his physical deficiencies.

Lewis has always been shorter, slower and less physical than most of the other players in City's squad, but his intelligence, workrate and technical ability has allowed him to cope at the top level.

Hopefully having a short break has allowed him to reset and get back to his early season form, and he can make an impact for the rest of the campaign.

Palmer and Maresca's return to the Etihad

There seems to have been quite the common link with transfers between Manchester City and Chelsea recently, with Kevin de Bruyne, Nathan Ake, Raheem Sterling, Romeo Lavia, Tosin Adarabioyo and Jadon Sancho all players to have represented both clubs in recent years.

But perhaps the two biggest talking points right now are Cole Palmer and Enzo Maresca.

Palmer came through City's academy and whilst he never shone as much as Foden, Bobb, Lewis or James McAtee in the first team, it was somewhat disappointing to see him leave when a pathway to the first team finally appeared to be opening up ahead of him.

He's now one of the best players in the league, winning PFA Young Player of the Season last year, scoring 22 league goals and a further 14 already this season.

Now managed by Maresca - a big fan of his during their respective spells at City - it's a frequent talking point about what position City might be in if they had kept both the Italian and Palmer at the club.

For Maresca, it's his first return to the Etihad since leaving (for Palmer it's his second) and City will want to keep the 22 year old quiet and hope Guardiola is able to tactically outsmart his former assistant to limit Palmer's influence and win City the game.

Gundogan starting as an eight

Arguably City's most underrated player in the demolition of Ipswich last week was Ilkay Gundogan, who ran the game in central midfield in his best performance since rejoining the club from Barcelona this summer.

With Mateo Kovacic sitting deeper, Gundogan was granted the license to roam forward a bit more in his preferred eight position.

He looked smooth and silky on the ball. Concerns about his speed and ability to defend transitions now aged 34 remain, but that is the case with all of City's midfield right now.

I'd be looking to bring him back into the starting XI against Chelsea, with Bernardo Silva or perhaps Nico O'Reilly coming off the bench to provide more energy later in the game.

A game of many goals

Neither City or Chelsea are in the best of form at the moment.

Thankfully for City, Romeo Lavia and potentially Enzo Fernandez are missing from the game this weekend, meaning City's midfield might not get quite the mauling they could've done from a physical perspective.

Chelsea aren't offering as much as they have done before from an attacking point of view, with the performances of Nicolas Jackson, Pedro Neto and Noni Madueke dipping, though you'd expect them to have a number of opportunities in transitions.

City, meanwhile, will likely also have more of an opportunity to play into space, which will suit Foden, Savinho, Haaland, De Bruyne and Marmoush.

It wouldn't be surprising to see this as something of a basketball game. I do still think City will, but it won't be easy, and it'll be a real test of the strength of the side as a whole ahead of the devious upcoming run of fixtures.