ENGLISH PREMIER BETTING PICK - MANCHESTER CITY V CHELSEA

English Premier

2026-01-04 - Manchester City vs Chelsea

A Sports Betting Pick by Auls

Manchester City v Chelsea
Football: English Premier League
Sunday 4th January 2025 - Kick Off 5:30pm
This game is live on TV

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Manchester City

A four point gap to the Premier League leaders is not going to be worrying Pep Guardiola at the halfway mark of the season and he will believe his Manchester City team still have plenty of experience to know how to turn that around. Dropping points at the Stadium of Light on New Year's Day would have hurt, but Manchester City will win plenty more games than not with similar levels of performance through the next five months.

They are 2nd in the Premier League table, but the gap to Arsenal could be extended depending on how The Gunners have performed at Bournemouth twenty-four hours earlier. In early January, Manchester City's sole focus will be on improving the 8-0-1 record at the Etihad Stadium where they host Brighton following this game against Chelsea.

Manchester City are unbeaten in 9 games in all competitions, but the 8 game winning run was ended in the goalless draw at Sunderland. They are back at the Etihad Stadium this weekend and Manchester City have won 4 in a row here in all competitions, whilst also scoring at least twice in each win.

Savinho is set to miss out and Nico Gonzalez is a doubt. Nico O'Reilly is another dealing with a knock, while Rodri and Jeremy Doku may not be risked from the start.

Chelsea

Over the last two decades, Chelsea Football Club have never been too far from sporting drama and another managerial change will surprise no one. After being named as a top choice to take over as manager of Manchester City IF Pep Guardiola decides to move on, Enzo Maresca admitting to the Chelsea board he had been having discussions with a big domestic rival cannot have gone down very well.

Add in the downturn in results and Maresca openly questioning how things were going at Stamford Bridge just last month and the parting between manager and club seemed inevitable, although perhaps not as soon as the turn of the New Year. The Blues are 5th in the Premier League table and will be led by an interim manager on Sunday, although all reports suggest Chelsea have targeted Liam Rosenior as the next manager.

Chelsea have won twice in the last 9 games played in all competitions and they have failed to win any of the last 3, which has resulted in a change in manager. They did fight back to earn a 2-2 draw at Newcastle United in the last away game played having trailed 2-0, but Chelsea have won 1 of the last 5 on their travels in all competitions and that against League One Cardiff City in the League Cup.

Moises Caicedo is suspended and Marc Cucurella is a doubt.

Head to Head

Manchester City did the Premier League double over Chelsea last season.

They are now unbeaten in 6 home games against Chelsea and have won 5 of those matches played.

Prediction

Over the last several months, there have been occasions when it has felt like Enzo Maresca had been on the brink of being removed as manager of Chelsea, but things settled down.

However, after his comments made last month after a win over Everton and the subsequent poor set of results in the festive period had once again placed Maresca in a vulnerable spot.

The final straw seems to be that Enzo Maresca has been speaking to Manchester City about filling in IF Pep Guardiola decides to leave next summer and that was always going to see the Chelsea board make a big decision.

A home draw with Bournemouth that saw Chelsea slip further behind League leaders Arsenal was enough and they will head to the North West with an interim in charge.

Facing a Manchester City team who are desperate to bounce back after dropping two points at Sunderland is far from ideal, while manager Pep Guardiola may want to remind everyone that there is plenty of gas left in his tank. He is experienced and will not be concerned about reports about Enzo Maresca's possible interest in his job and Guardiola will know that Manchester City have to make plans in case his own decisions are different from what the club want.

Manchester City played well against Sunderland and will feel they are facing a Chelsea team struggling for any kind of consistent form.

A similar level from the home team should be enough to put Manchester City in a position to win this game, while players returning from injury offer the home team a bit more depth to change things around.

They have also largely gotten the better of Chelsea in recent meetings at the Etihad Stadium and Manchester City may just take advantage of any distractions in the away camp.

This is a team that have continue to score plenty of home goals and Manchester City can maintain that trend in a strong winning effort.

The Statistics :

The Pick :

BEST BETTING TIP :

I'll back Manchester City to Win & Over 1 Total Goal (Bet Builder) at 1.80 with Bet365 (early payout if a team is leading by two goals)

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