Man City vs Chelsea preview, H2H, team news, line-ups and prediction

Manchester City and Chelsea will clash at the Ohio Stadium as part of their preseason preparations in the United States ahead of next season.

For City, it’ll be their final preseason match before heading back to England for their Community Shield clash against Manchester United.

City fans may not be as excited as their other counterparts all through pre-season due to the side’s inability to record victory.

Man City have failed to win any of their three preseason fixtures so far, and are now winless in four matches since losing the FA Cup final to United in May.

Pep Guardiola’s side played out a 4-3 goal thriller against Celtic with the Scottish champions taking the win and also lost 3-2 to Serie A giants, AC Milan who recorded their first victory under new manager, Paulo Fonseca.

Although Mateo Kovacic and Josko Gvardiol joined the team, Erling Haaland, Jack Grealish and Ederson were the only first-team regulars to start the game against a star-studded Milan side that had the likes of Alessandro Florenzi, Davide Calabria, Ismael Bennacer and former Premier League stars, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Fikayo Tomori.

The Citizens opened the scoring unsurprising through Haaland but Lorenzo Colombo struck twice in the first half to give the Italian giants the lead.

Youngster, James McAtee levelled the score early in the second half but a 78th-minute Marco Nasti strike meant City had gone for the second preseason game without a win despite scoring five goals.

What was more worrying for the Premier League side was how they lost the game. They were completely dominated in all facets of the game which is very untypical of a Guardiola’s team.

They recorded only three shots on goal while Milan had seven. The Rossoneri also enjoyed 57% of the possession, stringing 642 passes in the match, 157 more than City’s 485 passes.

Guardiola looked to change this when his side faced Barcelona at the Camping Ground Stadium in Florida last Tuesday.

This time, the Spanish manager utilised some of his experienced stars in the starting lineup including Gvardiol, Kovacic, Kalvin Philips, Grealish and Haaland against a relatively inexperienced Barcelona side that had Julian Araujo and Clement Lenglet as the only experienced players in the lineup.

They exerted much more dominance and were on full throttle from defence to attack.

However, Hansi Flick’s energetic Barcelona side took the lead before Nico O’Reilly equalised for the English side. Pablo Torre continued his preseason form by giving the Laliga giants the lead late in the first half before Jack Grealish tied the game with a 60-minute strike.

The game headed to penalties and the Citizens were left to bite their nails after reserve goalkeeper, Ander Astralaga made two saves for Barcelona to ensure a 4-1 shootout win.

City now turn their attention to Enzo Maresca’s led Chelsea side that are beginning to find their rhythm and Guardiola will hope to continue his dominance against his proteges.

Chelsea played some highly entertaining football to secure a 3-0 win over Club America, marking Enzo Maresca’s first victory as manager.

Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall made his debut in Chelsea’s midfield after regaining full fitness. He was one of four changes to the starting lineup, which included Tosin Adarabioyo at centre-back, Malo Gusto at left-back, and Raheem Sterling on the left wing.

At half-time, new signings Filip Jorgensen and Enzo Fernandez replaced Sanchez and Dewsbury-Hall.

An early Christopher Nkunku penalty and Marc Guiu’s first goal for Chelsea gave the Blues a strong lead at halftime, reflecting their dominance in the first 45 minutes at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.

Despite Club America’s improved performance after the break, Chelsea remained in control and added another penalty, this time converted by Noni Madueke.

Chelsea now turn their focus to Saturday’s match against Manchester City at Ohio Stadium, where Maresca will aim to outsmart his master, Guardiola, having previously worked as his assistant at City.

Man City vs Chelsea match details

• Date: Saturday, 3 August 2024
• Location: Ohio, United States
• Venue: Ohio Stadium
• Kick-off time: 10:30 PM BST, 11:30 UTC, 5:30 PM ET
• Tickets: Fans can buy tickets from a reputable secondary marketplace such as Seatsnet.com.

Match stats and head-to-head

• Man City have failed to keep a clean sheet in all their preseason matches. They’ve conceded nine goals while scoring eight.

• Guardiola’s side have conceded more possession to two of their three opponents in preseason, doing so against Celtic and Milan.

• Both Chelsea and City lost against Celtic.

• The last two clashes against this side ended in a draw. A 4-4 entertaining fixture at Stamford Bridge followed a 1-1 draw at the Etihad Stadium. The match ended Chelsea’s run of six consecutive defeats without scoring a goal against City.

• The last time Chelsea won a game against City was the 1-0 win in the UEFA Champions League final.

• Man City recorded a sky-high 46 shots against Chelsea across the last two matches.

Team news

City welcomed Kovacic and Gvardiol back to the team against Milan and the Croatia pair made their first preseason start against Barcelona.

Meanwhile, other international contingents including Kyle Walker, Ruben Dias, John Stones, Nathan Ake, Manuel Akanji, Kevin De Bruyne, Bernardo Silva, Rodri and Jeremy Doku remain absent.

Julian Alvarez is still away with Argentina at the Olympics and there are growing concerns over his future after recent media reports about his eagerness to play more.

Oscar Bobb and James McAtee have both impressed in preseason and are expected to start. The latter particularly has been linked to a loan move away but his performances in preseason might earn him a place in the squad for next season.

For Chelsea, Malo Gusto limped off in the second half against Club America while Benoit Badiashile and Christopher Nkunku also raised fears of an injury after being withdrawn.

However, Maresca has played down any fears of injuries revealing that the French trio only suffered cramps without picking up any significant injury.

Nicholas Jackson and Moises Caicedo are nearing a return to the team and are expected to join the full training sessions this week.

Levi Colwill picked up a late knock before the clash on Thursday and is being accessed. His participation in the coming matches hinges on a late fitness test.

Predicted starting lineup

Man City predicted starting lineup:

Ederson; Lewis, Simpson-Pusey, Doyle, Gvardiol; Kovacic, Perrone; Bobb, McAtee, Grealish; Haaland.

Chelsea predicted starting lineup:

Sanchez; Adarabioyo, Badiashile, Colwill; Gusto, Ugochukwu, Veiga, George; Sterling, Angelo; Guiu.

Prediction

Previous clashes between Guardiola and his protege have always ended in favour of the City boss. His first loss against Mikel Arteta who is one of his proteges came last season after defeating the Gunners manager in over eight attempts.

This will be his first encounter against Maresca who will be managing for the first time in the Premier League.

While the Italian manager has no Premier League experience, Chelsea possesses some quality players that can inflict damage on City.

The Premier League champions will hope to finish their preseason campaign on a high and will look to exert their dominance
ahead of their game against United in the Community Shield.

We’re predicting a 3:1 win for Man City.