Chelsea FC will be hoping to click into gear against Manchester City on Sunday
Chelsea FC have made a terrible start to this 2015/16 season. As reigning Premier League champions, they have performed nowhere near a title-winning level thus far. They travel to The Etihad on Sunday afternoon to take on Manchester City and hopefully kick-start their title defence.
Manchester City were seriously impressive in their first fixture against West Brom on Monday night. They comfortably won the match 3-0 with Sergio Aguero on the bench, and looked in charge throughout. To be fair, they were flattered by a surprisingly shambolic West Brom performance, but nevertheless Manuel Pellegrini’s men looked like they have a point to prove this season.
Chelsea, meanwhile, limped to 2-2 draw with Swansea City which could have easily been a loss. Thibaut Courtois was sent off for taking out Bafetimbi Gomis in the penalty area and Branislav Ivanovic was tied in knots by a very impressive Jefferson Montero.
The Eva Carneiro (and Jon Fearn) affair has dominated the intermediate period, but Jose Mourinho will like to switch the media’s attention to on-field matters with a Blues win.
With that in mind, here’s all you need to know.
Manchester City v Chelsea FC, August 16th
Venue: The Etihad
KO: 16:00 BST, 11:00 ET
TV: Sky Sports 1 (UK), NBCSN (US), check out your country’s local listings here
In the two league fixtures last season, both ended in 1-1 draws. Chelsea will look to topple the balance in their favour somehow, otherwise they could be left 5 points off the league leaders. It’s only the second game of the season, but still psychologically it’s a factor.
Be sure to check back right here as we will post the teams as soon as they become available.
Chelsea FC
Begovic;
Ivanovic, Terry (C), Cahill, Azpilicueta;
Matic, Ramires;
Willian, Fabregas, Hazard;
Diego Costa
Bench:
Blackman, Zouma, Mikel, Loftus-Cheek, Cuadrado, Remy, Falcao
Man City
Hart;
Sagna, Kompany (C), Mangala, Kolarov;
Yaya Toure, Fernandinho;
Navas, Silva, Sterling;
Aguero
Bench:
Caballero, Zabaleta, Clichy, Nasri, Demichelis, Bony, Iheanacho
In the meantime, check out the rest of our big game coverage with our match preview, predicted Chelsea starting XI and more!
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