Manchester City – Chelsea

The opponents will play loosely and score at least three goals in total

The lot in the FA Cup final 1/32 has become particularly unfriendly to Chelsea and Manchester City. Both clubs are now the bookmakers' primary candidates to win this competition. You can bet on the Mancunian club's title at odds of 4.0, while the London club's is 7.0. Interestingly, there have been two meetings between the rivals in the whole of 2022, and in 2023 they will have two dates already by the end of the first decade of January. The clubs crossed paths on Thursday at Stamford Bridge in the Premier League. In the upcoming encounter, bookmakers have identified Manchester City as favourites, offering odds of 1.40 on their victory in regulation time. Manchester City have started the current season as favourites in all four tournaments in which they take part. If, in the Champions League and the English League Cup, the Citizens justify their high status so far, then in the Premier League their position is in doubt. Last weekend's win over Chelsea only brought Guardiola's side within five points of relegation leaders Arsenal. In recent developments, Manchester City have managed just one goal each in their last two official encounters. With such high attacking potential, this statistic is about to change. Chelsea only performed well in the first part of the season in the Champions League, even there managing to lose one of the meetings with Dinamo Zagreb. The Blues were eliminated from the League Cup thanks to the efforts of Manchester City, while what is happening to the club in the league is a nightmare. Thursday's defeat to Guardiola's side was their sixth in 17 games played. A performance like that leaves Chelsea 19 points adrift of first place in a humiliating tenth place. It is unlikely that Chelsea's players will seek solace in a cup competition, but the name of their opponents will force them to tune up for the match in earnest. The clubs played each other almost equally on Thursday. Both teams tested the opponents' goalcards and created an approximately equal number of chances, but Manchester City's players were luckier, scoring the only goal of the match. Both teams will likely be more relaxed on Sunday, scoring at least three goals apiece.