Walker, Cancelo and Foden start as City make four changes for Chelsea

Pep Guardiola has made four changes to his starting line-up for tonight’s Barclays Premier League clash at Chelsea.

Kyle Walker, Joao Cancelo and Phil Foden all come in for their first starts since the World Cup while Ilkay Gundogan is recalled and captains the side.

Rico Lewis, Manuel Akanji and Riyad Mahrez who started all three matches immediately after Qatar 2022 move to the bench along with Jack Grealish.

Teams

CHELSEA XI: Arrizabalaga, Azpilicueta, Thiago Silva, Koulibaly, Ziyech, Zakaria, Kovacic, Cucurella, Sterling, Havertz, Pulisic

Subs: Bettinelli, Jorginho, Aubameyang, Chalobah, Gallagher, Chukwuemeka, Humphreys, Hutchinson, Hall.

CITY XI: Ederson, Walker, Stones, Ake, Cancelo, Rodrigo, Gundogan (c), De Bruyne, Bernardo, Foden, Haaland

Subs: Ortega Moreno, Phillips, Grealish, Alvarez, Gomez, Akanji, Mahrez, Palmer, Lewis

Last updated: 5 January 2023 Tactics

It looks like it will be Guardiola’s favoured formation of 4-3-3 once again as we aim to attack Chelsea in their own home.

The one question will be who plays on the right wing with Bernardo Silva perhaps the most likely, although Kevin De Bruyne could also play that role.

But the Belgian may play in midfield alongside Gundogan with Rodri as the anchor in the defensive midfield slot.

The back-four will have a familiar feel with Walker and Cancelo as the full-backs either side of John Stones and Nathan Ake.

And the forward line will be complete with the returning Foden on the left and Erling Haaland at centre-forward trying to add to his incredible start.

Ready to go

Kyle Walker returns for his first Premier League since the Manchester Derby on October 2 and Guardiola is delighted to have him back.

The England defender has been an integral part of our recent success and the City boss has no doubt about the quality that he brings.

Speaking in his pre-match press conference ahead of tonight’s game, Guardiola said he has shown his quality for “a long, long time”.

The City boss also praised the impact of teenager Rico Lewis, who has been outstanding in the three games since the return following the Premier League break.

To have two dependable right-backs will make Guardiola thrilled, not to mention Joao Cancelo who also returns tonight and is another option to switch from the left-hand side.

Bridging the gap

Guardiola said that City will have to be almost perfect to catch Premier League pacesetters Arsenal.

But after the Gunners were held at home by Newcastle United on Tuesday, tonight presents an opportunity to cut the lead to just five points.

It was only the third time this season that Mikel Arteta’s side have not taken maximum points and could give extra impetus to chasing a victory at Stamford Bridge.

With a trip to Arsenal in a month’s time, the City players will be desperate to cut down that advantage as soon as possible as we chase a third successive title and fifth in six years.

Match stats

Chelsea have lost their last two Premier League home games against City – only against Blackburn (1993-94 to 1995-96) and Arsenal (2020-21 to 2022-23) have they lost three in a row at Stamford Bridge.

City did the Premier League double over Chelsea last season – only once have they won three in a row against the Blues in the competition (December 2009 to September 2010).

City have won seven of their last 10 Premier League games against Chelsea (L3), as many as they had in their previous 25 (D4 L14).

2022 REVIEW | CITY’s YEAR IN NUMBERS

Pep Guardiola has lost just seven of his 34 Premier League games in London as with all of them against either Chelsea (3) or Tottenham Hotspur (4).

City have won their first Premier League game in each of the last 10 calendar years, since a 1-0 loss at Sunderland in 2012. Their first league game in each of the last two years has come in London (3-1 vs Chelsea in 2021, 2-1 vs Arsenal in 2022).

Chelsea have lost just one of their last 11 Premier League home games (W6 D4), with their 1-0 defeat against Arsenal in November the only time they’ve failed to score in their last 23 league games at Stamford Bridge.

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City have only lost one of their last 25 away Premier League matches (W18 D6), losing 1-0 to Liverpool in October. They are looking to win three away games in a row for the first time since April/May 2022, the second win of which was away at Leeds.

Raheem Sterling scored 91 goals in 225 Premier League appearances for City between 2015 and 2022. Before he joined the club, he was involved in four goals in his last four appearances against City in the Premier League (one goal, three assists with Liverpool).

Erling Haaland has seven goals in his six away Premier League appearances for City, netting twice in London in August against West Ham. Only two players have scored more than one goal in their first two away Premier League appearances in London – Mark Robins in 1992 (for Norwich vs Arsenal and Chelsea) and Michu in 2012 (for Swansea vs QPR and Arsenal).

Pep Guardiola has suffered eight defeats against Chelsea as a manager in all competitions, his joint-most against an opponent (also eight vs Liverpool). He has, however, won his last three against them without conceding a goal, including a 2-0 win over them in the League Cup in November.