Chelsea vs. Manchester City - England Premier League Matchday 30 Stamford Bridge London England 11 AM Sunday March 20, 2011
by Jason Green of Predictem.com
Match Odds: Chelsea 1.60 / Manchester City 5.50 / Draw 3.70
Over/Under: 2.5 goals Over (1.95) Under (1.75)
Moneyline: Chelsea -166 / Manchester City +450 / Draw +270
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In an important match for both clubs on matchday 30 in the EPL Chelsea faces Manchester City. Chelsea is in 4th place in the EPL only trailing 3rd place Manchester City by 2 points and the loser of this match will have a long road to how to catch Manchester United for the league title.
Chelsea recently played to a draw in their last Champions League match against FC Copenhagen and since they won the first leg they will advance to the final 8. However, they only lead Tottenham by 3 points in Premier League play so their automatic Champions League bid for next season is not in the bag.
Manchester City head coach Roberto Mancini recently stated that his club is very tired, especially leading goal scorer Carlos Tavez. Tavez had 20 goals in his first 26 matches on the season, but in the last 9 he has only netted one. Man City will need him 100% in this match, as they must pressure the Chelsea defense.
New Chelsea striker Fernando Torres was benched for the FC Copenhagen match to rest up for this big encounter. He has yet to score since coming over from Liverpool, but that may change against Manchester City.
Manchester City has not won an away Premier League match since late December or last year.
This season Chelsea has scored 51 goals and given up 24 and Manchester City has scored 45 goals and given up 25.
Chelsea is coming off a HUGE win in their last EPL match beating Manchester United 2-1 at home and in their last 5 home matches they have 3 wins, 1 loss, and 1 draw.
When these 2 teams met for the first time it was at the beginning of the season in September and Man City won on their home pitch beating Chelsea 1-0.
Chelsea Recent Form:
3/16/2011 Chelsea 0 FC Copenhagen 0 (Champions League)Manchester City Recent Form:
3/13/2011 Manchester City 1 reading 0 (FA Cup)
3/10/2011 Dynamo Kiev 2 Manchester City 0 (Europa League)
3/5/2011 Manchester City 1 Wigan (EPL)
3/2/2011 Manchester City 3 Aston Villa 0 (FA Cup)
2/27/2011 Manchester City 1 Fulham 1 (EPL)
Manchester City will likely be without the services of MF James Milner because of injury and DF Kolo Toure is still awaiting the ruling of his doping suspension and he will not play. Chelsea is relatively match fit, but DF Alex is still out with an injury.
The offense of Tavez is sorely needed for Man City in this game, as on the season in the EPL he has 18 goals and the next leading scorers are Mario Balotelli (6 goals) and Yaya Touré (4 goals). Man City has to pressure the Chelsea defense in this game and if Tavez continues to struggle they will have to look to score off the counter-attack. I don't see a big match for Tavez, as he will likely play the whole match in Thursday's Europa League encounter at home against Dynamo Kiev, since they are down 0-2 in aggregate.
Man U's defense has to keep Didier Drogba, Salomon Kalou, and Torres in check and to do that they will have to control the ball in the midfield. However, with the strong midfield that Chelsea has that will not happen. I think Torres will break through in this match and score his first goal for Chelsea.
Both clubs have an Over/Under 2.5 goal total of 5-5 in their last 10 matches.
Chelsea G Petr Cech has only given up 3 goals in his last 5 matches and I expect him to keep a clean sheet in this match.
Jason's Pick to Win: Manchester City is enjoying a good season and while Chelsea blew out of the games they cooled off, big time, and now really need to win this match to stay in the EPL race. They performed well under the pressure in the Manchester United win and they will do the same against Manchester City, as they will win by a score of 1-0 or 2-0.
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