Chelsea – Manchester City

The championship leader will get a victory in the centre match of the tourney

Looking at the Premier League standings today, it is hard to believe that just two and a half years ago these rivals played in the Champions League final, which ended in Chelsea's favour. Now the London club is a solid mid-table side in the English league, which has spent huge sums of money on the transfer market for the second year and continues to endlessly build something resembling a capable squad. In turn, Manchester City is the leader of not only national, but also European football, proving it in practice. Guardiola's team is approaching the upcoming match right after the victory in the Champions League, which emphasised the 100% result of the Mancunians in the tournament. And the last round of the Premier League ensured that the Citizens are in first place. Chelsea, who defeated Tottenham in the guests, contributed to this. Bookmakers have identified the guests as favourites for the upcoming meeting, offering odds of 1.76 on their victory. Chelsea continues to shape the team, but performs no better than last season's failure. In October, the Blues started to show signs of life, but the excitement was enough for a three-match winning streak, followed by a missed win over Arsenal and a home defeat to Brentford. The match of the last round for Chelsea was extremely successful, but the victory in the capital derby over Tottenham has its own conventions. Already in the 55th minute with the score at 1:1 "Spurs" were left in nine and even in such a state managed to go in attack on the gate Chelsea. "Blues" eventually achieved a victory, but it should not be overestimated. Manchester City in late September and early October experienced a slump, when in just three days the team flew out of the English League Cup through the efforts of Newcastle and lost in the championship Wolverhampton, and a week later added to the "piggy bank" of failures defeat from Arsenal. Since the third decade of October, Guardiola's team rectified the situation and won five times in a row, including a victory in the Mancunian derby. In midweek, Pep saved some of his leading players, against Young Boys leaving them in reserve or replacing them as the game progressed. The visitors will win the match in London.