CHELSEA and Manchester City will meet in the first of a four-day double-header and the one certainty is both sides will take Thursday's Premier League more seriously than the weekend's FA Cup tie.
Both Chelsea and City have suffered varying degrees of disappointment this season although there's no doubt the capital side have been worse and currently sit in a lowly ninth place.
They have won just one league game since the middle of October and that was at home against Bournemouth. Typical of the season was their last run-out at Nottingham Forest. Despite having 72 per cent of possession, they managed less shots on and off target than their hosts.
However, City have been uncharacteristically no pals of the punters this season either. They have failed to win in five of their 16 league games and lost two of them.
Their disappointing 1-1 draw at home with struggling Everton at the weekend rather summed up their season – there's a sense that this City side have not quite caught fire and are capable of producing the odd stinker on too many occasions.
And that's with the goalscoring phenomenon of Eling Haaland. He has now scored 21 league goals in 14 starts and they are still seven points behind Arsenal, before the Gunners' midweek encounter with Newcastle United.
How the bookies view it
It wouldn't have been so long ago that Chelsea would have been odds-on favourites for this, but they are now 9/2 outsiders with William Hill.
City are 11/17 favourites with SBK and the draw is 16/5 with bet365.
Recent head to heads
City have won the last three encounters between the teams without conceding a goal since losing the Champions League Final in May 2021.
Players to watch
Raheem Sterling has endured a poor season by his standards, but he scored on his last outing for Chelsea at the City Ground and he will be desperate to show his old team what they let go when they meet. He is 21/5 with SBK to score.
Erling Haaland is at last approaching something resembling a backable price to score at 41/50 with UniBet.
Anything else catch the eye?
Despite City's inconsistent form, they should still be too good for a Chelsea side who continues to flounder and Pep Guardiola's side should have enough to get the job done.
They are too short on their own so the obvious way to increase the price to a backable one is for them to win and Haaland to score at 13/10 with Paddy Power.
Chelsea's last four league matches have been under 2.5 goals, but to give ourselves extra insurance, go for Betfred's 7/5 on under 3.5 goals and a City win, with the visitors edging this in a low-scoring encounter.
This English Premier League match between Chelsea and Manchester City will be played on Jan 5, 2023 and kick off at 20:00. Check below for our tipsters best Chelsea vs Manchester City prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.
