Chelsea make the trip to Manchester tonight for the high-profile Carabao Cup clash.
Graham Potter will be looking for a solid performance from his side above anything, having watched the Blues falter in the defeat to Arsenal, in which his side were thoroughly dominated.
In Manchester City, we’re talking about a team who boast the second-best defensive record in the Premier League and haven’t lost in five matches in all competitions.
As for Chelsea, we’re looking at a side who have the sixth-best defence in the league and have failed to keep a clean sheet in five matches across all competitions.
Chelsea have also failed to win in their last four Premier League games, and whilst the side is clearly in transition, Potter will be looking for a win in order to ease pressure going into the final game against high-flyers Newcastle, before the international break.
Injury News
Heading into this clash, Potter will be without two first-team stars, with Jorginho suffering an injury blow to his foot and Kepa Arizzabalaga still suffering with his plantar fascia issue.
Speaking via Chelsea’s official website on Jorginho, Potter said: “Jorginho has a slight problem with his foot, so he’s doubtful for tomorrow,’ said Potter.
“Apart from that we’re with pretty much the same group that we had.“
Addressing Kepa’s injury status, the boss said: “Kepa is still unavailable. We’ll see about the World Cup. He’s got to take it day by day, it’s a tear in the plantar fascia, so it depends on how he responds, how he responds to pain, how comfortable he feels, but at the moment it’s not so positive.”
Reece James update
Potter also gave an update on Reece James’ status, with the World Cup nearing, with the star said to have been informed by Southgate that “he’s out.”
“No miracles, unfortunately. He’s progressing well. Reece was outside today, had a little jog, but nothing to report in terms of anything else.
“We haven’t really put a timescale on it. It’s just how he responds, we don’t want to rush anything. I certainly don’t want to put any timescales on it, that’s for him and the doctors and the physios. He’s optimistic, you need to be.“
Predicted XI
With that said, here is how we predict Chelsea to line-up against Premier League Champions Manchester City.
3-4-2-1;
Mendy;
Azpilicueta, Chalobah, Koulibaly;
Loftus-Cheek, Kovacic, Gallagher, Cucurella;
Sterling, Pulisic;
Havertz
We’re predicting Potter to make four changes from the side that faced Arsenal in what could also see a system change back to his trust 3-4-2-1 set-up, having drastically struggled in a 4-3-3 against Arsenal.
Thiago Silva will drop out for Kalidou Koulibaly, who will cover the left side of the Blues backline.
Jorginho will miss out through injury, with Mateo Kovacic set to take his place.
Mason Mount may also be rested, with Conor Gallagher set for another runout.
And finally, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang will lose out to Christian Pulisic who will be able to offer more in terms of counter-pressing.
