Manchester City’s winning form will be tested by an improving Chelsea team in the Premier League on Saturday. Can the Blues pull off another positive result?
Bookmaker Pinnacle offers odds at 3.56 for Chelsea to score once in the first half. The odds are at 15.13 for two Chelsea goals in the opening 45 minutes of action and 1.411 for Mauricio Pochettino’s men to finish the first half without a goal.
※ Current Odds Date & Time: February 16th, 7:00 A.M. (EST)
Following a very turbulent time, Chelsea has gained some momentum ahead of Saturday’s match-up with back-to-back 3-1 wins. The Blues impressed last week with an away victory over Aston Villa in the FA Cup and defeated Crystal Palace thanks to a three-goal second half on Monday night. The team now hopes to beat Man City for only the third time in nine Premier League meetings.
Across all competitions, Chelsea had suffered six straight defeats against City before playing out a very entertaining 4-4 draw against the champions at Stamford Bridge in November. Incredibly, there hadn’t been a draw in this fixture for 16 Premier League clashes before a cold-blooded Cole Palmer penalty in injury time split the points at the Bridge.
Can Chelsea’s rising star become the hero again on Saturday? Since being sold by City in the summer, Palmer has seemingly gotten better with each week and heads into this weekend’s big game in hot form – the 21-year-old has recorded six goals and four assists in his last nine Premier League appearances.
City has Erling Haaland back in the lineup and will look to score in a 45th consecutive league outing at the Etihad Stadium. The team coped well with Haaland’s absence and has won 11 games on the bounce across all competitions.
With Kevin De Bruyne back in form as well, stopping City is going to be a massive challenge for all Premier League sides this spring. De Bruyne boasts assists from all four league appearances in 2024 and can join an exclusive club on Saturday, as only 10 players in Premier League history have registered a five-game assist streak. The Belgian playmaker would be the first City player to do it.
Pep Guardiola could be without Bernardo Silva and Jack Grealish on Saturday, but he will still have plenty of tools to hurt Chelsea. City has had a very impressive scoring record against the Blues during his reign, with Chelsea recording only one clean sheet in the past 19 Premier League games against Guardiola’s side.
