Manchester City are favourites to prevail in this top-four clash at 3/4, with Chelsea 10/3 to claim all three points. The draw is 14/5.
The Cityzens came from behind to win 2-1 in the reverse fixture at the Etihad Stadium in November, and a repeat of that score is 7/1. The Blues beat City 2-0 in the same fixture last season, and you can find 25/1 on that.
Former Chelsea midfielder Kevin De Bruyne started City’s comeback in November, and he’s a 13/5 anytime scorer. Gabriel Jesus is the 7/2 favourite to open the scoring, while Tammy Abraham is 11/2 to score first, or 15/8 anytime.
Cast your mind back to May 2016, when Chelsea and Stamford Bridge played a decisive role in where the Premier League title ended up.
Four years later, there’s a chance that the title race could be settled in SW6 again, with only an away victory good enough for Manchester City to make Liverpool wait that little bit longer for their first title in 30 years.
It’s not just the longevity of the title race that’s on the line at Stamford Bridge tonight, as Frank Lampard’s Chelsea have their own goals to focus on.
After Manchester United claimed a 3-0 win over Sheffield United at Old Trafford, and Wolves narrowly beat Bournemouth 1-0 at Molineux, the Blues have both sides breathing down their neck in the hunt for a Champions League spot next season. They’ve seen the gap cut to just two points.
Leicester City were the beneficiaries of Chelsea’s comeback against Spurs to seal the title race in 2016, and they occupy third at present.
The Foxes haven’t yet hit the heights they hit earlier in the season. Since the restart, they’ve stumbled to draws against Watford and Brighton, and three points for Chelsea could close the gap to a single point.
Pep Guardiola and his Manchester City side know that defeat at Stamford Bridge means Liverpool will be Premier League Champions, and with the Reds next up for the Mancunians, they’ll hope they can prolong the race to prevent a guard of honour.
That being said, they’ll also be aware that even with a win against Chelsea, Liverpool could seal the title at the Etihad, something else Guardiola is likely to want to avoid.
Inconsistency has led to City’s poor title defence, 22 points off top spot with eight games left, and losing more games during this campaign than in their previous two title winning runs combined.
They lost top scorer Sergio Agüero to a knee injury in their 5-0 thrashing of Burnley at the Etihad on Monday, with the Argentinian likely to have played his last game of the season after undergoing surgery.
Gabriel Jesus should take his place, though Guardiola hinted he could play Ilkay Gundogan in the false nine role.
With Guardiola at the helm, changes are inevitable. Despite his brace and man of the match performance in that game, Phil Foden could make a return to the bench with such little time between matches.
After being rested for most of the game, it’s expected that Kyle Walker, Aymeric Laporte, Benjamin Mendy, Kevin De Bruyne and Raheem Sterling will return to the starting XI.
Jorginho returns from suspension, and could slot straight back in to the side. Mateo Kovacic, N’Golo Kanté and Mason Mount combined well against Villa, but Lampard could opt for a more experienced side against City.
Lampard would have liked the immediate impact he saw from Christian Pulisic in Sunday’s win over Aston Villa, scoring the equaliser and providing a constant threat.
There’s a chance he could step in for Ruben Loftus-Cheek, though with new short-term contracts for Willian and Pedro, they could form an experienced front three with Olivier Giroud if he’s given the nod up front.
Manchester City have won six of the last seven meetings between the two, though that one defeat came in this fixture last season, where Kanté and David Luiz scored in a 2-0 win.
We’ve seen before that when Chelsea are up against it in the big matches, anything can happen. Can they give Liverpool that final push over the line to seal their first title in 30 years, or will City take the title race to the Etihad?
