Man City vs Chelsea: Guardiola title defence enters most critical phase

Manchester City's clash with Chelsea is the biggest game of the defending champions' season - and here's why.

'The next game is always the most important' is a phrase spouted out by managers far too often but it's one which resonates with the situation City find themselves in this weekend.

After their crushing 3-1 defeat at Liverpool before the international break, the defending champions' season is at a crossroads. They need a response, not another setback.

But, with the Premier League's in-form team Chelsea on their way to the Etihad, come Saturday night, we will know whether the champions have the stomach for the fight or whether Liverpool really did strike a psychological blow.

Whether it be at Barcelona, Bayern Munich or Manchester City, Pep Guardiola's teams have notoriously led from the front, or at least that used to be the case.

Of course, Guardiola has chased down teams in title races before, but only once has he won the league having trailed at this stage of the season, and that was with arguably the greatest of his Barcelona teams in 2011, where they overturned a one-point deficit after 12 games to win La Liga.

With the gap to Liverpool currently at nine points - it could be 12 by the time City kick-off against Chelsea - Guardiola is very much in uncharted territory.

Never before has he been this far off the pace in his top-flight managerial career, and to make matters worse, he has never taken fewer points from his opening 12 games of a top-flight season than this term.

Whether Guardiola can adapt his squad's psyche from being hunted to the hunter remains to be seen, but if City were to go on and win the Premier League from this position, it would be up there with his greatest achievements at City, if not his career.

Having faced just two of the current top eight in their opening 12 fixtures, the visit of Chelsea ushers in the start of Manchester City's most-testing period in the Premier League so far.

Man City: Next 8 PL fixtures

While Liverpool have been overcoming obstacle after obstacle, beating the five teams directly below them in the table, including City, the champions have faltered and are yet to beat a side higher than ninth.

With away trips to Newcastle and Burnley, the Manchester derby, matches with Arsenal and Leicester and the potential banana skins of Wolves and Sheffield United, there's an argument things could get worse before they get better for Manchester City.

Whenever Manchester City have found themselves in need, there's one man who continues to provide the answers - Sergio Aguero.

The Argentine has struck fear into the hearts of Chelsea ever since he moved to the Premier League, and there's every chance he will be key if City are to get back on track on Saturday.

No player in Premier League history has scored more goals against Chelsea than Aguero, whose hat-trick in last season's corresponding fixture saw him hit double figures (10) against the Blues in just 13 games.

Manchester City hit Chelsea for six in an imperious performance in the same fixture last season, but this time around, Frank Lampard's side arrive at the Etihad as the Premier League's in-form team.

The Blues have won their last six games on the bounce - their best run in the division since their title-winning 2016/17 campaign - and another could well see them replace City as the chief challengers to Liverpool.

Chelsea sit a point and a place ahead of the champions but if they are to really ramp up the rhetoric that they are genuine title contenders they have to achieve something that has so far eluded them this season, and that's win against a side currently in the top seven.

Winning away at City is no formality, as last season proved, but with Chelsea boasting the best record against Guardiola since he moved to the Premier League - three wins from six encounters - the blueprint is there for Lampard's current crop.

Whatever the outcome of Saturday's match, it promises to be a belter, with two of the Premier League's most attack-minded sides locking horns.

Manchester City top the goalscoring, shots and quality chances created charts by a sizable margin this season, but Chelsea are not too far behind.

Man City vs Chelsea: Attacking comparison

Both sides boast one of the Premier League's top scorers, Sergio Aguero and Tammy Abraham, with both strikers are among five of the top seven players for expected goals and expected assists that could feature at the Etihad, along with Raheem Sterling, Christian Pulisic and David Silva.

De Bruyne

A couple of weeks ago, Manchester City crumbled to a chastening defeat at the hands of Liverpool, meaning that they were left 9 points adrift of the Reds. On Merseyside, most of the Sky Blues’ flair players failed to come to the party, thereby allowing the hosts’ all-action style to trump them. And, Kevin De Bruyne represented one of those to have not risen to the occasion.

Through the nascent stages of the 2019-20 campaign, the Belgian has already earmarked himself as a candidate for being the best player on show in England. He began the season on fire, notching up several assists whereas he also created an enormous amount of chances for his teammates.

Recently though, he was struggled just a tad for consistency, by his standards, meaning that he’s endured the odd bad game.

However, usually, the midfielder has been able to follow up a poor performance with a dazzling display, a prospect that might not be music to Chelsea’s ears.

Moreover, apart from N’Golo Kante, the Blues’ midfield lacks a shade of dynamism, thereby prompting De Bruyne to attack them and exploit the spaces in between the lines.

Thus, there are plenty of caveats for the Blues to take into account before entering the fray at the Etihad. Rather stunningly though, if De Bruyne does turn up completely, Chelsea might just be rendered powerless.

After all, when the Belgian is on song, he is simply the best midfielder on the planet currently.

Jorginho

In the 2018 off-season, Chelsea, after the appointment of Maurizio Sarri, quickly moved to acquire Jorginho, with the Italian banking on his compatriot to help ingrain his philosophy on the team. And, though that experiment underwent quite a few trials and tribulations, Jorginho has outlasted Sarri at Stamford Bridge and has probably gotten better since the former manager’s departure.

Often criticised for his propensity to play square passes, Jorginho found it tough to stamp his authority against tougher oppositions last term. In the process, Chelsea suffered as a lot of their offensive moves generally flowed through the midfielder. And, one only needs to look at their performances at the Emirates and the Etihad at the turn of the year to drive the point home.

However, under Lampard, Jorginho has been accorded a more proactive and dynamic role, meaning that he is looking to release the ball quicker and into space. Consequently, Abraham, Christian Pulisic and Mason Mount have thrived, meaning that Chelsea’s attack has seemed in fine fettle.

Yet, the clash against City on Saturday represents the Italian’s litmus test. Months ago, it was at the Etihad that people started questioning the midfielder’s suitability to the Premier League, owing to his slight frame and slight lack of defensive work-rate.

And, courtesy the cyclical nature of football, he has the ideal opportunity to showcase how far he has traversed as a player in the English top-flight when he makes the trip to the blue half of Manchester.