Chelsea vs Manchester City: Struggling Blues face tough task against Cityzens

Topics: TV Schedules, TV Listings, Chelsea, Manchester City, English Premier League

Chelsea will hope to turn their poor fortunes around as they host the reigning Premier League champions for the first of several meetings over the next few days.

Both Chelsea and Manchester City will be looking for a crucial victory after experiencing disappointment in their respective fixtures. The Blues come into this match having dropped two points during a one-all draw with Nottingham Forest, which will be especially frustrating for Graham Potter's side as they had taken a narrow 1-0 lead through an early goal from Raheem Sterling.

Currently in a very disappointing 10th spot, Chelsea look increasingly unlikely to feature in next season's Champions League (unless if they manage to win this year's edition) and as a result, have been quite aggressive in trying to secure some much needed reinforcements during this winter's transfer window.

With just one win in their last seven Premier League games, Chelsea will be desperate to turn things around quickly. This will be the first of two meetings between the Blues and Manchester City, who also will be looking to rebound after a disappointing two-all stalemate with Everton last time out. Indeed, Pep Guardiola's side are now eight points behind Arsenal after that frustrating result and time is running out for the Cityzens, who are the reigning Premier League champions to make up the ground if they wish to make it a third consecutive Premier League title this season.

While City have lost just one of their last 25 away games and have not lost their first game of a new year since 2012, clean sheets have been hard to come by, with just one from their last seven ties. However, Pep Guardiola's men did beat Chelsea both home and away last season, and have already dumped the Blues out of one competition after beating the Blues 2-0 in the EFL Cup third round.

As such, the visitors will be fancying their chances to become just the second Premier League team to beat Chelsea at Stamford Bridge this season.

Team news: Chelsea vs Manchester City

Chelsea: The hosts are still missing N'Golo Kante and most recently, Reese James as the English international appears to have re-aggravated a knee injury that has restricted him to bit-part role this season. Edouard Mendy is still in doubt due to a shoulder issue, meaning that the Senegal international could miss this upcoming game, while Wesley Fofana is unlikely to be involved. However, Ruben Loftus-Cheek has returned to training after recovering from a calf injury, and Ben Chilwell could be involved in Chelsea's next Premier League match against Fulham next week.

Manchester City: The visitors will only be missing Aymeric Laporte and Ruben Dias, who are out with back and hamstring issues respectively.

Match facts: Chelsea vs Manchester City

Pep Guardiola has lost just seven of his 34 Premier League games in London as Man City manager (W22 D5)
Manchester City have won seven of their last 10 Premier League games against Chelsea (L3)
The Cityzens beat Chelsea both home and away last season and are hoping to win three in a row against the Blues for the first time in over a decade
Chelsea have lost their last two home matches in the Premier League against Manchester City
Since losing 1-0 to Sunderland in 2012, City have won all of their opening Premier League matches of a new year