Manchester City will claim the 2022/23 Premier League title by defeating Chelsea at the Etihad if not early provided Arsenal win their trip to lowly Nottingham Forest.
MCI vs CHE Match Details
Date: Sunday, 21 May 2023
Time: 16:00 (BST), 20:30 (IST)
Venue: Etihad Stadium, Manchester
MCI vs CHE Match Preview
Booking their ticket to Istanbul by inflicting the joint biggest defeat of Real Madrid 4-0 at this stage of the competition in Champions League history and 5-1 on aggregate, Manchester City have got them ever closer to completing a terrific treble-winning season. They are aiming to replicate the feat of their city rivals Manchester United who won the league, FA Cup and the Champions League in 1999. The first of which they can easily claim this weekend against Chelsea by winning for the 12th straight time in the Premier League this season. The debate of the best treble-winning side will continue but everyone will agree on the fact that the performance shown in midweek was simply sensational. Making the record champions look very much the second-best said all about the utter dominance the side delivered on the pitch. Bernardo Silva bagged a first-half brace with Manuel Akanji and Julian Alvarez added to the score later to set up the final with Inter in anticipation of winning the long-desired Champions League trophy. They will take on United in the FA Cup next month as well to seemingly finish the set. Before all of that, City will look to maintain their five-game unbeaten run in all competitions against the Blues since last losing to them in the Champions League final two years back. Incredibly, they haven’t conceded a single goal in this period in the meetings with the last three in the Premier League ending in 1-0. Either way, the league title celebrations are assured for the side again with two games left to play.
While City will be enjoying the occasion of defending their third title in a row and winning it for the seventh time in history, the Blue half of London will be wishing their disaster campaign finish quickly. They have to wait three more games for that and all against top four sides with a trip to Old Trafford brewing after the away game against City before the final round game against Newcastle at Stamford Bridge. With Mauricio Pochettino reportedly taking the hot seat next season, the manager and the new owners will take a long look at what went wrong in the present one. After spending record amounts in both windows and also switching managers from Thomas Tuchel to Graham Potter and now Frank Lampard before the Argentine steps in. The 2-2 draw with Nottingham Forest in the last match following their first win since March left them languishing in their underwhelming 11th spot by their standards, long devoid of European football. Raheem Sterling's quick brace in response to Taiwo Awoniyi's first-half opener after the break did nothing as the Nigerian got on the scoresheet again after the hour-mark to make sure the spoils are shared. The result also potentially ends hopes to at least finish the campaign strongly given the nature of the remaining fixtures in the schedule. Chelsea will only hope they don’t face a similar faith like Real Madrid in the title-winning occasion at the den of the holders.
Recent Form (Bundesliga)
BAY: WWWLD
LEP: WWWLW
MCI vs CHE Team News
Manchester City’s concern remains with Nathan Ake as he is set to miss the clash against his former club for a thigh injury. The Dutch defender has already missed the last three games for City and could return for the trip to Brentford in the last game of the season. Kyle Walker and the scorer of the brace, Bernardo Silva could be rested with Aymeric Laporte and Riyad Mahrez taking their place in the otherwise unchanged eleven that secured the massive win in midweek.
Benoit Badiashile is the latest name on the injury list for Chelsea after the centre-back picked up a groin problem in training before the clash at the weekend. The situation is being accessed but his season might be over. The same can be said about N’Golo Kante whose injury woes continue with a groin problem picked up in training as well. Kalidou Koulibaly has made a return to training although he is not ready to feature yet. Mason Mount, Reece James, Marc Cucurella and Ben Chilwell remain out for the clash. However, Mateo Kovacic could earn a start after shaking off an issue picked up in the last game.
MCI vs CHE Predicted Lineups
BAY: Ederson, Manuel Akanji, Ruben Dias, Aymeric Laporte; John Stones, Rodri; Riyad Mahrez, Kevin De Bruyne, Ilkay Gundogan, Jack Grealish; Erling Haaland
LEP: Kepa Arrizabalaga; Trevoh Chalobah, Thiago Silva, Wesley Fofana, Lewis Hall; Conor Gallagher,
Enzo Fernandez, Mateo Kovacic; Noni Madueke, Joao Felix, Raheem Sterling
MCI vs CHE Head to head
BAY won - 7
Drawn - 5
LEP won - 1
(In overall meetings)
MCI vs CHE Dream11 Team Prediction
GK: Ederson (8)
DEF: Dias (8.5), T Silva (8.5), Akanji (8)
MID: Mahrez (9), De Bruyne (9), E Fernandez (9), Gundogan (9), Sterling (7.5)
FW: (9), Felix (7.5)
Vice-captain: Kevin De Bruyne
Captain: Erling Haaland
