Chelsea vs Man City LIVE: Stream, score, TV channel, team news, kick off time as Covid-depleted City team announced

AWAY DAYS

Sergio Aguero loves a goal at Stamford Bridge!

BENCHED

Man City forward Sergio Aguero has scored 10 goals in his last nine appearances against Chelsea in all competitions, netting hat-tricks in this run in both April 2016 and February 2019.

LONDON CALLING

Manchester City have lost three of their last four Premier League games in London (D1), as many as they had in their first 19 league visits to the capital under manager Pep Guardiola (W14 D2 L3).

Credit: Getty Images

MISSING MEN

Gabriel Jesus, Kyle Walker and Eric Garcia all miss out as they are still self-isolating after testing positive for covid-19.

Ederson, Ferran Torres and Nathan Ake are not in today’s matchday squad.

Credit: Getty Images

SKY BLUES BENCH

33 Carson, 10 Aguero, 22 Mendy, 25 Fernandinho, 26 Mahrez, 48 Delap, 78 Harwood-Bellis, 79 Mbete.

MAN CITY XI

Pep Guardiola makes three changes from the team that beat Newcastle 2-0 on Boxing Day.

Ederson, Ake and Torres drop out for Steffen, Zinchenko and Foden.

13 Steffen; 27 Cancelo, 3 Dias, 5 Stones, 11 Zinchenko; 16 Rodri, 8 Gundogan; 47 Foden, 20 Silva, 17 De Bruyne (c); 7 Sterling.

BLUES BENCH

1 kepa, 2 Rudiger, 33 Emerson, 5 Jorginho, 23 Gilmour, 29 Havertz, 20 Hudson-Odoi, 9 Abraham, 18 Giroud.

CHELSEA XI

Frank Lampard makes five changes from the side which faced Aston Villa.

Christensen, Rudiger, Jorginho, Giroud and Hudson-Odoi all drop out and Zouma, Silva, Kovacic, Ziyech and Werner come into the starting line-up.

16 Mendy; Azpilicueta (c), 15 Zouma, 6 Silva, 21 Chilwell; 17 Kovacic, 7Kante, 19 Mount; 22 Ziyech, 11 Werner, 10 Pulisic.

THE TEAM SHEETS ARE IN!

WINNING START

Manchester City have won their first league game in 13 of the last 14 calendar years (L1), winning each of the last eight in a row since a 0-1 loss at Sunderland in 2012.

TOP W-EARNER

Kai Havertz and Timo Werner top Chelsea’s top earners list, and both are yet to find their feet in the Premier League.

Boss Frank Lampard has no concerns over the pair, and believes they’re both settling into life at Chelsea well.

When talking about Werner, Lampard said: “I think he’s come into this league, he’s made a big impact straight away.

“His speed, his direct nature, things he’s creating for the team, the fact he’s getting lots of chances, he makes lots of chances through his explosive nature and his eye to be in the right areas.

“And that I love. I’ve got no worries about him. Timo’s going to be a huge player for this club.

“He’s scored some goals already. Of course he’ll want to score more and he’s missed a couple but keep getting there and he’ll score those goals.

“So I just think it’s a small moment as all strikers have and I have no worries.”

And on Havertz, he said: “Long-term, I’ve got absolutely no worries about Kai – in fact it’s the opposite. I know he’s going to be a huge player for this football club, in the Premier League.

“He has all the attributes, all the personality, all the attitude and he’s going to be an absolutely top-class player for me, in the Premier League and in the world.

“That’s how highly I rate him. There are very quick reactions sometimes to how people analyse new signings with price tags etcetera.

“I think we have to understand that some of the best players to have graced the Premier League found it hard to get used to it and I think Kai has actually been very good and Covid has made it difficult for him.”

NEW YEAR WOE

Chelsea have failed to win their first Premier League game in each of the last four calendar years (D3 L1), since winning 3-0 at Crystal Palace in 2016.

Credit: Getty Images

HEAD-TO-HEAD

Chelsea have won their last two Premier League home games against Manchester City, last winning more consecutively against them at Stamford Bridge between 2006-2009 (4).

Man City have only failed to score in one of their last 12 Premier League meetings with Chelsea (0-2 in December 2018), with the Citizens also keeping five clean sheets in this run.

None of the last 10 Premier League meetings between Chelsea (4 wins) and Man City (6 wins) have finished level, with the home side winning each of the last five in the competition.

ONE TO WATCH

Man City’s Kevin De Bruyne scored home and away against Chelsea in the Premier League last season – the last City player to score in three consecutive league games against Chelsea was Carlos Tevez (2009-2010).

Credit: Getty Images

THROWBACK

Eden Hazard scored a brace against Man City back in 2017! What a player.

BLUES PREDICTION

Here’s how we think Chelsea could line-up against Man City.

GOOD AFTERNOON

And welcome to the live blog for Chelsea vs Manchester City!

The Blues start of 2021 with a massive Premier League clash against top four rivals Man City.

Both sides are looking to start off the new year with a win, which would keep them within touching distance of league leaders Liverpool.

Chelsea’s last match came against league high-flyers Aston Villa who held them to a draw and for City, they last featured on Boxing Day in a comfortable victory over Newcastle.

Despite both Kai Havertz and Timo Werner struggling to hold down first-team places, only Liverpool (37) have scored more than Chelsea this season (31).

It’s never good to get hit with a mid-season Covid-19 outbreak within the squad, and Man City’s last fixture which was meant to be against Everton got called off as a result.

Pep Guardiola’s City have struggled in front of goal this season, only scoring 21 goals (lowest amount in the top half of the table).

And Sergio Aguero as well as Jesus are struggling to make an impact.

However, on the flip side, City have conceded the fewest amount of goals (12) in the league this season with Ruben Dias forming quite the partnership with John Stones.

It’ll be interesting to see what side Guardiola fields today, and who is missing!

The full team news should be out in about half an hour’s time, so don’t go anywhere!