Citizens failed to take advantage of the misfires of Tottenham and Liverpool in the last round. In a fundamental confrontation with Manchester United, Josep Guardiola’s team was content with only a 0:0 draw. The game turned out to be equal and the result is quite consistent with the state of affairs on the football field. The draw, which became the fourth for the Mancunians in the current championship, pushed Manchester City to ninth place in the standings. The distance from the leaders is not yet critical, but not so small either and equals to six points. So far, for the most part Guardiola’s men have lost points in away matches. At home, they failed only in the opening match with Leicester, which they unexpectedly lost with a score of 2:5 and also shared points with the reigning champion Liverpool (1:1). In the rest of the home matches, they dealt “dry” with Arsenal (1:0), Burnley (5:0) and Fulham (2:0). It should be noted that Manchester City’s defense is one of the best in the current championship. The Mancunians conceded eleven goals in 11 matches. Only Tottenham (10) have less. At the moment, the “dry” series of “Manchester City” has already six official matches in a row, including matches in the Champions League. Hosts have practically no personnel losses. Eric Garcia and Alexander Zinchenko are injured. Questionable is Sergio Aguero.
For Chelsea the last round was also unsuccessful. The team could well overtake Tottenham and Liverpool in the standings, which drew together. However, the London club was beaten with a score of 0:1 by Everton at Goodison Park. By the way, we predicted the success of butterscotch in this fight. Thus, the pensioners remained in the third place in the tournament, being three points behind the first line. The defeat from the “toffee” was for Frank Lampard’s charges only the second in the current championship and the first one on the road. They also lost at the start of the championship to Liverpool (0:2) in their home arena, after which they gave out an unbeaten run of nine matches in a row. It should be noted that Chelsea are one of the most productive teams in the current championship. Now the Londoners have scored 25 goals, only Liverpool have more (27). At the same time, there is complete order in defense. In 12 rounds they conceded only 12 goals, less than only Tottenham and Manchester City. Chelsea have few personnel losses. Hakim Ziyech and Callum Hudson-Odoi will miss the match due to injuries. Questionable is Christian Pulisic.
