Man City, Chelsea stake pride at Etihad

Defending champion, Manchester City, will attempt to end Chelsea’s one hundred per cent run in the new season when both sides clash tomorrow at the Etihad Stadium in the most exciting fix­ture of the English Premier League this weekend.


Chelsea currently leads the log on 12 points with a perfect record of four wins from four matches while City trails in the fifth position with seven points from four matches, no thanks to the 0-1 home loss to Stoke City on Au­gust 30.
The last time Chelsea visited the Etihad early this year, precise­ly on February 3, Jose Mourinho and his charges stunned the Man­uel Pellegrini side in front of 47, 364 fans with Branislav Ivanovic providing the only goal of the match in the 32nd minute. Al­though City dominated the en­counter, its 65% ball possession as against Chelsea’s 35% counted for little.
However, if current forms of both sides are anything to go by, then football fans should expect a potential thriller tomorrow as both teams parade most of the dreaded strikers in the English Premier League this season.
City has scored seven goals and conceded five in four matches while Chelsea has scored 15 goals and con­ceded six in as many games although with less challenging fixtures compared to City’s. The tough­est fixture of Mourinho and his charges so far was their visit to Everton where they stunned their hosts 6-3 in a nine-goal thriller. The Blues also won on the road 3-1 at newly-promoted Burnley just as they claimed full points at home at the Stamford Bridge against Swansea and Leicester City.
Save for the embarrassing home loss to Stoke City, Man City has not fared badly either. Pellegrini and his charges were im­pressive against Arsenal at the Emir­ates last Saturday as they came away with 2-2 scores. The team began its title defense with an impressive 2-0 away win at Newcastle and followed up with an emphatic 3-1 defeat of Liverpool at the Etihad on August 25. Tomorrow’s game against Chelsea is crucial as pride will be at stake for both title favourites.
One player that would attract the atten­tion of football fans across the globe in this encounter is former Athletico Madrid pro­lific forward, Diego Costa. The summer signing has been on-fire since he arrived at Stamford Bridge accounting for seven of Chelsea’s 15 goals in his first four league games, including his hat-trick in last Sat­urday’s 4-2 whipping of Swansea. Costa’s partnership with fel­low summer signing, Cesc Fabregas, ap­pears to be made in heaven as, togeth­er, they’ve made a mince meat of the defense of Chelsea’s oppo­nents lately.
Other preda­tors in Chelsea’s attack include Oscar, Hazard and Didier Drogba among others.
However, Pellegrini is expected to match Mourinho fire-for-fire as City equally parades a fierce attack force prominent among which are Sergio Ague­ro, Erdin Dzeko, Samir Nasri and Yaya Toure. On a good day, the highly mobile City’s attack line could pose a lot of trouble for the opposite side. It leaves to be seen how the John Terry-led defense of Chelsea would cope with the fiery attack of the host team tomorrow at the Etihad Stadium.
The side that would gain the upper hand in the midfield battle would most likely carry the day. Two players are expect­ed to dictate the pace of the en­counter from the middle of the pack; Fabregas for Chelsea and Toure for Manchester City. It sure promises to be a thriller!