MANCHESTER CITY WILL beat Chelsea this evening and it shouldn’t be difficult.
Heading into the weekend, the visitors to the Etihad Stadium were 10th in the the table, 18 points off the reigning champions in second spot, and in 24 Premier League games have already conceded 40 goals.
For perspective, that’s eight more than Everton in the relegation zone and only five fewer than newly-promoted Luton Town in 17th place.
Mauricio Pochettino has not yet been able to build a sufficient defensive structure to have any kind of confidence about going to City and trusting his players to remain concentrated or disciplined enough to keep them at bay while also posing a threat in the final third.
Simply sitting in and trying to frustrate isn’t a worthwhile option for this Chelsea team, and the manager knows it too.
“You need to be brave enough to try to force them to defend, to run back and to face their goal,” Pochettino said yesterday.
“If we go there and wait to see what’s going on, it’s a team that can dominate you and will make you suffer. The most important thing we realised is that we need to attack, be able to run and to make the effort all together.
“The most important thing is to go there and be brave, to challenge them.”
Therein lies the horrible dilemma of facing City – a team that has lost once in two years at home in the Premier League.
An adventurous, positive approach is what Chelsea fans would expect and is one that would also play to their strengths – they’re simply not good enough to do that effectively either.
Among the other nine clubs in the top half of the table, only Manchester United (33) and West Ham (36) have scored fewer goals than Chelsea’s 41. It is no wonder they have been a basket case of inconsistency.
It is why they are capable of turning on the style like in that chaotic 4-4 draw with City at Stamford Bridge last November, but can then also lose 4-2 to Wolves and be booed off in front of their own fans.
More pertinently, when Chelsea travelled to Old Trafford in December they wilted after scoring an equaliser and deservedly lost 2-1 to a Manchester United side that had been lacking in confidence but looked assured against the Blues.
At St James’ Park in late November, Newcastle ran riot in a 4-1 demolition and Pochettino derided his players’ “soft” approach.
Most recently, on 31 January, Liverpool were far superior as Chelsea couldn’t deal with their intensity.
City can take a more methodical approach to carving them open but with Kevin De Bruyne in sensational form after returning from injury and Erling Haaland getting up to speed – his brace against Everton last weekend may open floodgates after his own fitness issues – they also possess two of the most potent weapons when it comes to turning a game on its head in an instant.
“It’s an exceptional team in all departments, (it’s) one of the toughest games we have until the end of the season,” City manager Pep Guardiola insisted.
“They’ve been playing really good in the last games. They have everything – intensity and quality.
“Most teams are defined by if they don’t lose the ball and it’s difficult to find a player who loses the ball. They are a really good team, it’s a tough one.”
City, though, are in the kind of form and rhythm – seven Premier League wins in a row – that could break Chelsea’s resolve very quickly and make sure that it’s nowhere near as tough as Guardiola makes out.
Chelsea don’t have it in them to frustrate and defend but nor are their most talented players – Enzo Fernandez and Cole Palmer, for example – quite good enough to be able to truly impose themselves to a point where they can control the ball for long enough to frustrate or throw City off course.
They are going for their fourth title in a row but perhaps the possibility of being in third place by the time they kick off (5.30pm) could add an element of nervousness which Chelsea might be able to capitalise on.
Liverpool are away to Brentford in the early kick off and could open a five-point lead at the top before Arsenal – level with City on 52 points – travel to Burnley.
“When you arrive at the last eight to 10 games we will see how many teams will be involved,” Guardiola continued.
“I think these three will be there but the distance between fourth and fifth is also so minor.
“It doesn’t matter if there are two, three or four as long as we win our games. Win our games and do our job – the rest doesn’t matter.”
This should be just another routine evening in the title race for the champions.
