The new year starts immediately with a real football star. Chelsea and Manchester City will face each other in the English Premier League on Sunday, January 3. We have two top teams that want to start 2021 with a victory.
Frank Lampard: “We are in a difficult phase.”
Chelsea coach Frank Lampard saw several expensive points lost at the end of 2020 and therefore seems to drop out (altogether) in the title fight. A victory over Manchester City would therefore work out very well for Lampard and his men: “A few weeks ago people tipped us off as title contenders, now we are in a difficult phase.”
“Hopefully Ziyech will be back against City”.
An essential link in the team is Hakim Ziyech. The Dutchman who plays for Morocco was out of the running for a while, but will probably return to The Blues on Sunday. “Hakim was critical to us when it comes to assists, creating opportunities and also some goals,” said Lampard. “We played very easily then. You miss players of that level if you lose them and we want him back when we play against Manchester City,” said Lampard in his statement.
Josep Guardiola: “Chelsea is unbelievably good.”
At Manchester City, things other than football played a role in the end of 2020. Because of this, for example, the match against Everton was cancelled. Trainer Pep Guardiola is counting on the top match against Chelsea to continue and prepares his team for a challenging game: “They are so good, they are an excellent team that plays very nice football.”
“Chelsea has spunk”.
Lampard continues his preview by stating that City will have a hard time with Chelsea’s fresh playing style. And according to Guardiola, that is mainly due to Lampard: “Most teams and young managers have spunk and nothing to lose. That’s why football is fun.”
Statistics
Chelsea starts this top match in sixth place. The teams around the London team almost all have the same number of points. The Blues have 26 points. Opponent Manchester City also has 26 points, but Oranjeklant Nathan Aké has played two games less.
How daring are both teams?
In the H2H statistics, we see many beautiful and legendary encounters. The home team won the most recent mutual match. Chelsea got through that game with 2-1. Matchwinner became: William who used a penalty kick in the second half.
Current stats and news form Manchester City
Looking at Manchester City’s level of form, we see a clear upward trend. After a somewhat lesser phase – with some draws left and right – coach Guardiola’s team knows again what to win.
In the last game of 2020, the Manchester team won 2-0 against Newcastle United, took three points against Southampton (0-1) and in between defeated Arsenal in the EFL Carabao Cup (1-4).
Current stats and news form Chelsea
The duels that Chelsea played during the holidays often ended in disappointment for the team of trainer Lampard. West Ham United was the only club to be defeated: 3-0. Arsenal (3-1), Wolverhampton Wanderers (2-1) and Everton (1-0) were lost, resulting in nine more loss points for the London formation.
In the last weekend of 2020, Chelsea drew 1-1 against Aston Villa. The goal against was in the name of the Netherlands El Gazi. Chelsea has only been allowed to add four points in the last five matches in the English football league due to the draw.
