Chelsea have struggled in the Premier League but will hope to record a morale-boosting victory on Thursday against Manchester City.
Erling Haaland is having a special debut campaign in the Premier League and will look to make a mark again at Stamford Bridge. Bookmaker William Hill has the odds at 3.75 for Haaland to be named Man of the Match on Thursday.
※ Current Odds Date & Time: January 4th, 8:30 A.M. (EST)
In order to improve their shocking form that has led to just one win in seven Premier League outings, Chelsea have to find a way to neutralize a player who has scored 21 goals in just 15 league games this season. Haaland has become the quickest player ever to hit the 20-goal mark in the Premier League and he’s finished without a goal just three times.
However, despite Haaland’s immense form, City find themselves playing catch-up to Arsenal. There have been some horrible slip-ups during the season and the team also needs to produce a bounce-back performance on Thursday after splitting the points at home with Everton in a 1-1 draw.
Chelsea manager Graham Potter must be dreaming of also having a striker like Haaland. The Blues have lacked a consistent goal-scorer all season, and Kai Havertz and Raheem Sterling are sharing the top scorers honors in the league with only four goals.
Can Sterling’s experience and know-how on how things work at City help Chelsea to victory on Thursday? He had a superb career in Manchester with 132 goals and 95 assists before moving to London. Sterling has started to pick up form, registering goal involvements in each of the last two games, and he would love to make a big impact against his former team.
It’s the second meeting of the season for the two teams after City won a League Cup clash 2-0 on home turf. In total, Pep Guardiola’s men have now recorded three straight victories in the match-up. Chelsea last failed to beat City in three consecutive meetings at the beginning of the last decade when the club had a five-game run without a win in the head-to-head meetings.
Ending the poor run would be a big boost for Potter’s stock. He had a positive start at the Bridge, but things quickly turned sour and Chelsea now find themselves sitting in the middle of the table. A good run of results could still turn their season around but the improvement it must start immediately.
