Chelsea vs Manchester City: prediction for the English Premier League match

Chelsea are playing Manchester City twice this week - after the battle at Stamford Bridge, the Blues will travel to the Etihad Stadium for the FA Cup match. In the last Premier League game, the Blues drew against Nottingham Forest (1:1).

After 16 games, Chelsea are in 10th place in the standings with 25 points and 20 goals scored, which is their worst start to the season since season 2015-16. They have a couple of games in hand over their closest competitors, so Graham Potter's men will probably improve their position in the near future.

Graham Potter lost seven out of eight games against Pep Guardiola. Tonight, the Blues will be without Mendy, Lotfus-Cheek, Chilwell, Kante, James, Fofana, and Broja. 

Manchester City also lost points in the last game - they were held to a draw by Everton (1:1). This was a disappointing result for Pep Guardiola, but he noted that the Toffees were excellent. Currently, Man City are seven points behind Arsenal who are looking to snatch the title from the Sky-Blues. 

However, the City team managed to win the league four years ago, when they were seven points behind at Christmas. The defending champions are confident - they lost only one of the last 25 away games in the Premier League. They also have the best attack in the league with 44 goals.

Alvarez, Laporte, and Diashave been ruled out of this match.