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Chelsea vs Manchester City

Match Preview – Chelsea vs Manchester City (Community Shield)



The curtain raiser is finally upon and we have the FA Cup champions Chelsea facing the record breaking Premier League champions Manchester City! It is going to be the first competitive match for Maurizio Sarri as a Chelsea manager and winning a trophy would be a good start, but Manchester City are going to be a tough nut to crack as Pep’s men will look to continue on with their success. Both teams have key absentees so it’s a great chance for younger players to show out. So let’s get into the preview in more detail.

CHELSEA


It’s been an eventful pre-season for Chelsea after a very poor season and coming into this curtain raiser the fans have new hope with the new manager Maurizio Sarri and his fluid attacking play. After finishing 5th but winning the FA Cup, Chelsea finished the prior season in good spirits but that doesn’t change the fact that they’ve had an awful season and must bounce back this year. The community shield is a good start. So far this summer Chelsea have got rid of Conte and replaced him with Sarri and they’ve also made one top class signing in Jorginho who has looked phenomenal in pre-season. Sarri has also been giving the youth a chance and players like Hudson-Odoi, Ethan Ampadu and Tammy Abraham have stepped up especially Callum Hudson-Odoi who has been Chelsea’s best player in the pre-season. The aged 17 wonderkid has looked absolutely sensational and is favoured to start for Chelsea. In the pre-season Chelsea have played good football, players like Fabregas, Barkley and David Luiz have been rejuvated but the only worry is their lack of goal scoring as Morata just can’t seem to find any form. Chelsea’s pre-season results have been 1-0 win vs Perth, 1-1 draw with Inter (Won on pens) and 1-1 draw with Arsenal (lost on pens). They’ve played solid sharp football but have lacked finishing and it’s going to be important to improve on that against Man City.


In terms of team news, Chelsea are going to miss their main men Eden Hazard, Thibaut Courtois, N’Golo Kante and Willian. But even with that being the case, Chelsea have capable players to slot in such as Callum Hudson-Odoi, Ross Barkley, Pedro and Willy Caballero with the first three showing really good form currently while Willy has been a little shaky however. Chelsea are expected to play a 4-3-3 like they’ve done throughout the whole pre-season and their lineup is expected to look like this. Willy Azpilicueta Rudiger Luiz Alonso Barkley Fabregas Jorginho Hudson-Odoi Morata Pedro. Expect Chelsea to go at Man City, they really excel at one touch football with Fabregas Jorghinho and Barkley in that midfield which is going to be Chelsea’s biggest key as they are the ones who are expected to unlock Man City and allow Hudson-Odoi Morata and Pedro play with freedom. Also Morata must finish his chances.


MANCHESTER CITY


Manchester City are coming into this game with a relatively depleted squad. It’s still highly unlikely that we’ll see the likes of de Bruyne, Aguero, D.Silva etc because some of them are still on their world cup break or have only just returned and haven’t had enough training time. However, Man City have shown to have some really talented youngsters in their squad like Phil Foden, Lukas Nmecha, Zinchenko to name a few and they could very well be featured in this community shield game. Man City had a successful pre-season regardless of the fact that they lost two of the three games because they had a very young squad with only Sane, B.Silva Laporte and Mendy being the only senior players featured in this pre-season. Man City lost 0-1 to Dortmund, 1-2 to Liverpool and finished with a very impressive 3-2 win against Bayern after being down 0-2. Man City may not be the heavy favourites as they’d normally be but you’d have to be excited about their young players who could get a chance to show out at Wembley against a very good Chelsea side.


In terms of team news, as already mentioned a lot of main players are expected to be out. However, even with that we should expect Man City to control possession and play attacking football, that’s just simply Guardiola’s DNA. The senior players that ARE expected to play are Bernardo Silva, Leroy Sane, Riyad Mahrez, Benjamin Mendy and Laporte. Also Gundogan could be featured in this game. Other than that it’s highly unlikely that any other senior players get to play unless it’s a 10-15 minute cameo off the bench. Expect a mix of youth players and senior players for Man City in this game which should still be a very capable side that could win this trophy.


What To Expect/Prediction


We can only expect a very entertaining game here between these sides. Two attacking minded managers, we’ve already seen how good the games between these two get when Sarri’s former team Napoli faced City last year. A lot of very talented youth is expected to be involved which is only a good thing as we’ll get to see some of the finest young talents on show playing alongside some of the world class players. As for prediction who will win we’re going to back Chelsea although it’s a 50/50 game, Chelsea seem to have more senior players back with a good pre-season under their belt and the youngster Callum Hudson-Odoi looks like he could be the biggest difference maker given his performances. If Morata sorts himself out and puts away his chances then Chelsea should have a really good chance at winning game and the Chelsea win odds @3.60 or Chelsea to lift the trophy @2.25 at bet365 look like value bets. Our prediction is a 3-2 Chelsea win.




ODDS – Decimal


Chelsea Win (90 mins) – 3.60


Draw (90 mins) – 3.60


Manchester City Win (90 mins) – 2.15




To Lift the Trophy – Chelsea 2.25 – Manchester City 1.57



KICK OFF – 5th August 2018 – 3pm UK Time



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