After facing each other recently in pre-season, Manchester City and Chelsea will lock horns once again to kick off their respective Premier League campaigns on Sunday.
Pep Guardiola’s men emerged victorious against Enzo Maresca’s side in a 4-2 victory at the Ohio Stadium in Columbus but a league fixture is expected to play out differently due to the stakes at hand.
Manchester City would be determined to start the season in high spirits with a win over Chelsea.
Enzo Maresca, on the other hand would ideally like to do the same to kickstart the beginning of his spell at his new club, especially in front of a packed Stamford Bridge crowd.
In their last three meetings across all competitions, two games have ended in a draw while City defeated Chelsea 1-0 in the semi-final of the FA Cup last season.
Neville and Carragher reveal Manchester City vs Chelsea result
Considering the gulf in class between both sides, City will be hoping to beat the Blues as they were held to a pair of draws against them in the league during the previous campaign.
However, those results could instill a sense of belief in Chelsea’s players that they are well-capable of springing yet another surprise, especially at home.
Considering 10 goals went in during their previous two outings in the league, Sunday’s clash could promise yet another cracker of a contest.
However, both Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher believe Manchester City will beat Chelsea 2-1 away from home.
Speaking on The Overlap’s Stick To Football show, Neville said: “I think it will be 2-1 City or 1-0 City.”
“Should we go City 1-0?”
Carragher replied: “I don’t see how there’s only one goal in that game, Chelsea have conceded so many goals in pre-season.”
“City go two goals up, Chelsea get a consolation.”
Neville agreed: “2-1 City.”
Carragher replied: “Yeah.”
Manchester City should not be too bothered by the result
Regardless of whether Manchester City manage to win, draw or lose against Chelsea, the result should not bother them too much.
The encounter comes too early into the season to paint a picture of how the Sky Blues will fare.
Manchester City’s primary priority should be how they perform during the game.
With several of their senior players having missed pre-season due to have been handed an extended break after Euro 2024, Pep Guardiola will be keen to assess how his team perform.
If City can put in a performance that displays that they look convincing regardless of the personnel in question, they should be confident that they will string a run of wins together in the following weeks.
Heading into the showdown, the Premier League winners should back themselves to defeat a Chelsea side who will still be finding their feet under Enzo Maresca.
