Chelsea welcome Manchester City to Stamford Bridge on Saturday as two of the top three sides in the Premier League meet.
Just days after both sides featured in the Champions League, the two Premier League heavyweights meet at Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea know that a win on Saturday evening would put their name right back in the title race discussion, despite being only three points behind both Manchester clubs.
We’ve picked out some key battles that may decide where the game is won and lost.
Alvaro Morata vs Nicolas Otamendi
Alvaro Morata is beginning to really flourish in his role as the main man at Chelsea following the confirmed departure of Diego Costa.
Morata has scored seven goals in as many games, netting four in his last two in all competitions.
The Spaniard bullied Diego Godin during the midweek game away to Atletico Madrid and it was his goal that kick-started the Chelsea comeback.
Otamendi has been in fine form for City of late and Morata will need to be at his best to get past the Argentinian.
N’Golo Kante vs Kevin De Bruyne
Fixtures do not get any easier for N’Golo Kante, who alongside Tiemoue Bakayoko, put in a dominant midfield performance against Atletico on Wednesday night.
Come Saturday night, he’ll be one of the men tasked with handling former Chelsea attacker, Kevin De Bruyne, who has been one of City’s best players this season.
Because of Pep Guardiola’s notoriously attacking football and fluid systems, De Bruyne can potentially pop up in all sorts of positions, meaning the task of marking him will not be down to just Kante.
Chelsea will need to keep the Belgian quiet on Saturday if they want to come away with anything.
Marcos Alonso vs Bernardo Silva
Bernado Silva could be the man that comes into City XI this weekend to help fill the void left by Sergio Aguero.
Marcos Alonso himself has enjoyed a number of impressive performances of late, but Silva provides an edge of unpredictably to City’s attack.
City will be without Aguero for the game at Stamford Bridge, leaving an extra onus on the likes of Silva to provide the goals.
Silva was named on the substitutes’ bench on Tuesday night, while Leroy Sane started and played the full 90 minutes, meaning the latter could drop to the bench on Saturday night.
Pedro vs Danilo
An injury to Benjamin Mendy means that former Real Madrid defender Danilo, who was also linked with a move to Chelsea this summer, could start at left-back.
City have also played Fabian Delph as a makeshift left-back in the past, but in a game of this magnitude, Guardiola is likely to favour the experience of Danilo.
Conte is not a coach to rest on his laurels, so after a successful switch to a 3-5-2 against Atletico Madrid, you can expect there to be some rotation against City, with Conte perhaps looking to exploit a rotated back four.
Pedro impressed against Stoke in Chelsea’s last Premier League outing, scoring an impressive goal in the first half, meaning he could come back into the starting XI.
The Spaniard offers guaranteed work rate and has the quality to deliver to, with the latter being something that is regularly questioned of Willian.
