Chelsea are in shambles this season, winning just 10 Premier League games so far and they could be staring at their 11th league defeat of the campaign this weekend.
Chelsea have won their previous two games but next up, they head to the Etihad Stadium to face a buoyant Manchester City.
The Blues have found it really hard to pick up positive results against City in recent times and in fact, the last time they beat the Cityzens was back in May of 2021 when they lifted the Champions League title under Thomas Tuchel.
Back in November when these two teams last met, the London side came from 3-4 down to secure a 4-4 draw thanks to a 95th-minute penalty from Cole Palmer. This time around though things are completely different because City are bulldozing their way through while Chelsea are struggling to remain in the top half of the table.
Chelsea’s team news and injuries:
Just like every other matchweek, Pochettino will go into this intense tie with more than half a dozen players missing due to various injuries. And a new name has been added to that list because Thiago Silva is ruled out with a knock.
‘It’s a minor injury for Thiago but I think he’s out for tomorrow and is not available,’ said Pochettino on Friday in his pre-match press conference. ‘After this game we don’t know, we will need to assess him day by day.
Silva’s absence will be a major blow for the Chelsea manager because the defender has been one of the few consistent performers for the club this season. The Brazilian becomes the fifth defender to be injured after Wesley Fofana, James, Cucurella and Badiashile.
Thankfully, keeper Roberto Sanchez has fully recovered from his injury and he is in line to feature against Manchester City but Pochettino has a very big decision to make on Saturday because backup keeper Djordje Petrovic has done remarkably in front of goal in these few weeks.
Poch has updated: ‘Robert is available too, which is good news. Always it’s good to recover a player that was playing a lot. For him to be available again is a good thing for the team.
‘We will see if he plays tomorrow. It’s very good to have him back and you never know in football what can happen. It’s better to have all the players available as soon as possible and be ready to play if we decide to choose them.’
It will be really harsh to push Petrovic back to the bench but against a team like Man City, Poch will possibly want his No 1 to be in the starting XI.
In the Crystal Palace win, Christopher Nkunku came off the bench to play the full second half and the 26-year-old should get a starting role ahead of Raheem Sterling on Saturday.
Chelsea predicted line up vs Man City:
Predicted Starting line up(4-2-3-1): Sanchez; Gusto, Disasi, Colwill, Chilwell; Caicedo, Enzo; Gallagher, Cole Palmer, Nkunku/Sterling; Jackson.
