On Saturday, the seventh round of the "Premier League" will begin, and in the last match of the day, we will witness a showdown between two contenders for the title.
At 19:30 at "Stamford Bridge" stadium, the third-placed "Chelsea" team will meet the current leaders of the championship, "Manchester City" footballers.
Season start
The hosts, the "Chelsea" footballers, started in the championship with an unexpected failure against "Burnley" 2:3, but later managed to get back on the path of victories. In the remaining five rounds, they only lost points once, playing a draw 0:0 with "Arsenal". With 13 points after six rounds, the "Blues" are in third place in the "Premier League".
"Manchester City" has not experienced a single defeat in the English championship this season, only losing points once, with a draw 1:1 against "Everton". In recent weeks, Pep Guardiola's players have been truly impressive, winning impressively against their opponents in three consecutive rounds: an impressive victory 5:0 against "Liverpool", a crushing 6:0 win against "Watford", and in the last round, "Crystal Palace" had no hope as they had to accept a defeat 0:5. With 16 points, "City" currently leads the standings in these championships alongside "Manchester United", but due to a better goal difference, at the moment, "Man City" is at the top of the league table.
Team news
In the "Chelsea" team, defender David Luiz will be absent due to a red card in the match against "Arsenal" which earned him a three-match suspension, and this match will be the last one to serve this penalty. Andreas Christensen is likely to take the Brazilian's place on the field.
Definitely missing from the hosts' team due to injury will be Danny Drinkwater. Meanwhile, Eden Hazard, who has been recovering from an injury at the start of the season and has played in the last three matches in the "Premier League" from the bench to the field, is expected to appear in this season's English championship match from the first minutes.
The latest loss for the "Manchester City" team is Sergio Aguero. The striker, who was involved in an accident, has broken ribs and will have to be out of football for a while.
It was already clear that "City" would have to do without full-back Benjamin Mendy, and although Vincent Kompany has already recovered from his injury, he has not yet reached the required form to help his team.
Predicted starting lineups:
"Chelsea": Courtois; Azpilicueta, Cahill, Christensen; Moses, Kante, Bakayoko, Alonso; Hazard, Pedro, Morata.
"Manchester City": Ederson; Walker, Stones, Otamendi, Danilo; De Bruyne, Fernandinho, David Silva; Bernardo Silva, Jesus, Sterling.
Interesting facts
Last season, "Manchester City" lost both matches against "Chelsea". The "Blues" were the only team to prevent Pep Guardiola's players from winning any points in their head-to-head matches;
P. Guardiola has faced "Chelsea" seven times and has never been able to win (4 draws, 3 losses). However, once after a draw, there was a penalty shootout, which was won by the team coached by the Spaniard at the time, "Bayern";
Throughout the history of the Premier League, at this point in the season, only two teams have scored more goals than "City" this year - "Newcastle United" (22 goals in the 1994-1995 season) and "Manchester United" (22 goals in the 2011-2012 season). However, neither of them was able to finish the season with the title of Premier League champions;
In his first six matches in the Premier League, Alvaro Morata has scored 6 times. Throughout the league's history, only Mick Quinn (10) and Diego Costa (9) have scored more goals in their first seven matches in the English top flight. In order to match one of them, A. Morata will have to score at least a hat-trick in his seventh match;
Manchester City has not lost in 14 consecutive Premier League matches;
In his last five matches against "City", Eden Hazard has directly contributed to five goals (3 goals and 2 assists).
