Alex Reid looks at whether the once ever-present appearance of English clubs in the later stages of the Champions League is set to become a thing of the past
Craig Dobson looks at QPR's decision to sack Neil Warnock and replace him with Mark Hughes
Andy Pakes previews this Sunday afternoon clash in the first edition of Game of the Week for 2012
Dave Hughes tells us about his sporting hero, Wes Morgan
This week’s edition of ‘Game of the Week’ comes from Monday night’s clash at Stamford Bridge and sees Chelsea take on high-flying Manchester City. With Villas-Boas’ side already ten points behind the league leaders, a defeat would effectively end their title hopes. Having already destroyed Manchester United 6-1 at Old Trafford and put five past third-placed Spurs at the beginning of August, it is difficult to see who could stop City cruising to the title if Chelsea cannot get a result at the Bridge.
Form
Despite a poor run during October and November that saw defeats away to Liverpool, newly-promoted QPR and a 5-3 defeat home against Arsenal, Chelsea have turned their performances round of late with a win at St James’ Park (or the Sports Direct Arena as we are apparently supposed to call it now) and a 3-0 win against Valencia to finish top of their group the Champions League.
Man City have been devastating in the league this year, winning twelve of their 14 games and are still unbeaten. Their phenomenal goal difference of +35 is far superior to Manchester United’s in second place, scoring 4 or more goals on seven separate occasions. Despite their dominant league form, they could only finish in third place in their Champions League group and drop into the Europa League. For a team that has spent over £450m since 2008 and, as such, has high expectations, such a disappointment could well play on the players' minds in Monday’s game.
Team News
Chelsea – Jose Bosingwa is back after missing the Champions League win over Valencia through injury. Michael Essien is still recovering from injury and is due back early in the New Year. Central defender David Luiz is suspended, though given his recent performances, this could well be a blessing in disguise for Andre Villas-Boas.
Man City - Micah Richards remains a strong doubt with the calf injury that kept him out of the Champions League win over Bayern Munich but Pablo Zabaleta is fit again and could deputise. Aleksandar Kolarov will miss out with a groin injury
Player Watch
Chelsea – Daniel Sturridge
With £50m rated Fernando Torres in a terrible run of form, with only two goals in the league all season, the spotlight has fallen on Daniel Sturridge, who is currently the Blues’ top scorer with seven goals, including three in his last three games. For Chelsea to capitalise on City’s European disappointment, they will need Sturridge to be in top form.
Man City – Sergio Aguero
Aguero joined for £35m in the summer and has settled immediately. With eight goals in his first five games, and eleven overall in the league, he finds himself second in the League’s goal scoring charts. With continued supply from the flamboyant David Silva, Aguero’s finishing could well take City to victory at Stamford Bridge and, ultimately to the league title.
Key Stats
Only the bottom three, Blackburn, Bolton and Wigan, have a worse defensive record at home than Chelsea, something that could well cost them against the free-scoring league leaders
Man City are equally as devastating in front of goal at home and away, with 24 goals scored both at the Etihad and on the road.
Predictions
Well, I have finally got back into predicting form by correctly predicting that Blackburn would beat Swansea. But the prediction of the week has to go to Sam, for not just predicting a likely result (after his 3-3 fiasco of a couple of weeks ago) but for actually getting one right, so well done there…
Sports Editor James has unfortunately, but somewhat predictably, been deducted points this week for being confident enough that Steve Kean would be sacked when Blackburn went down to the Swans that he decided to make a mini-prediction feature out of it. Not only was Kean not sacked, but Blackburn powered to victory. We can only hope that James’ confidence is better placed this week.
I think that Monday night could see a lot of goals, games involving City these days usually do. But with City’s exit from the Champions League during the week, and with Chelsea’s strong return to form recently, I am going to go for a high-scoring Chelsea win and say 3-2 to the home side.
James Tompkinson says… 2-1 Chelsea
Aimee Howarth says… 3-1 Man City
Stephen Puddicombe says… 2-1 Chelsea
Sam Holloway says…1-1
Alan Belmore says…1-0 Man City
Craig Dobson says…2-1 Chelsea
Paul Shercliff says…2-2
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