A new era dawns for Chelsea, who travel to face title-chasing Manchester City without a manager after Enzo Maresca’s surprise departure in midweek.
Manchester City slipped four points off the title pace on New Year’s Day when they were held to a 0-0 draw by Sunderland, although boss Pep Guardiola strangely insisted afterwards that he was pleased with the point his side had collected.
That goalless stalemate ended City’s six-match winning league run, but there’s every chance they get back in the win column at the Etihad, where City have won their last eight top-flight games.
Scoring 3+ goals in seven of those outings underlines how dangerous City tend to be on home soil, and considering they’ve won all four of their home games against sides in the pre-round top eight to nil, they don’t tend to let up against the league’s big hitters either.
There’s an interesting sub-plot to this game for Chelsea, after their now-departed boss Maresca reportedly left Stamford Bridge after telling the club’s hierarchy that he’d held talks with City about possibly replacing Guardiola in the near future.
He’ll be nothing more than an interested spectator here as U21’s boss Calum McFarlane takes caretaker charge of Chelsea, with his first task to try and improve upon a run of one win in seven Premier League games. That’ll be no mean feat for him, not only given the calibre of opposition, but also owing to the fact that Chelsea have won their first league game in just one of the last nine calendar years.
