Manchester City vs. Chelsea, Premier League: Preview, team news, how to watch

Monday’s 3-1 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers finally arrested Chelsea’s slide, stopping our winless run in the league at five. It also put us back into the top-four, four points behind Arsenal and Nottingham Forest, a long way behind league-leaders Liverpoolbut ahead of the rest of the chasing pack, all of whom are now fighting for just that one last Champions League spot.

And yet, Chelsea’s poor run of form was nothing compared to the epic slide that City experienced in November and December, wherein they won just once in thirteen (13!) games in all competitions. January has seen them put a few more W’s on the board, but yet another collapse midweek, this time giving up a two-goal lead to lose 4-2 against PSG, has plunged them back into the mire.

So, two teams struggling to get the ship moving in the right direction once again, but on the extreme opposite ends of the typical squad lifecycle. City’s aging team cannot quite keep up consistently with the demands on modern football anymore; Chelsea’s young team cannot quite cope with them consistently just yet.

A match that could very well prove a symbolic step in those processes then, and define the rest of the season for either side.

Date / Time: Saturday, January 25, 2025, 17:30 GMT; 12:30pm EST; 11pm IST
Venue: Etihad Stadium, Manchester, England
Referee: John Brooks (on pitch); Stuart Attwell (VAR)
Forecast: cold and dry, with a slight breeze

Is TV: Sky Sports Main Event (UK); none (USA); Star Sports Select HD1 (India); SuperSport Premier League, Canal+ Sport 3 (NGA); elsewhere
Streaming: Sky Go (UK); Peacock (USA); Disney+ Hotstar (India); DStv Now (NGA)

Photo by Arne Dedert/picture alliance via Getty Images

Manchester City team news: City have blamed their poor run on injuries — especially to key midfielder Rodri — and fatigue above all, but also on simply not being able to match opponents physically. Pep Guardiola put it quite succinctly after their midweek collapse in Paris, “they were quicker, faster, won the duels, one more man in the middle, and we could not cope with that; they are fast”. The era of “positional play” may be ending.

Of course, that might be just a temporary phase. City have already spent over £100m this month to help address some of these issues, signing two young center backs, 20 and 19, in Abdukodir Khusanov and Vitor Reis, and adding some spice to the attack with Omar Marmoush, who had already scored 20 times this season for Eintracht Frankfurt. While the trio will need time to get up to speed, their legs are fresh and their enthusiasm unbound. Meanwhile, Erling Haaland has put pen to paper on a 9.5-year contract extension as a sign of extreme confidence in the continuing long-term viability of their familiar dominance, and Kyle Walker has been shipped out to AC Milan on loan, as a sign of time waiting for no man.

Walker had already lost his place to makeshift right back Matheus Nunes, but Guardiola might have to do further reshuffling at the back with injuries to Rúben Dias and Nathan Aké. Jérémy Doku also picked up an injury in their last game and will miss out, while Oscar Bobb continues to recover from a fracture.

That said, City are never short on talent. Not at all. Phil Foden’s having a subpar season but that won’t last forever, and while practically every City midfielder is over 30 (and Mateo Kovačić cannot come close to replicating Rodri, try as he might), they can pick a pass just fine for Haaland, who’s back on a goal-per-game pace since the turn of the year.

View from the enemy: Bitter and Blue

Photo by Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC via Getty Images

Chelsea team news: We don’t have any new signings to blood — and despite rumors, don’t seem likely to need to do so this month — but we do have several players who are in the process of leaving, or at least actively looking for an exit. Renato Veiga is set to join Juventus on loan while the likes of Cesare Casadei and Carney Chukwuemeka are hoping to finalize moves in the final week of the transfer window as well.

The news is similarly mixed on the injury front. Enzo Fernández and Levi Colwill should be back after missing out on Monday and Cole Palmer’s ankle problem appears manageable (though not without affecting his play negatively). Reece James has now managed three straight injury-free appearances (two starts) and Trevoh Chalobah put in a Man of the Match performance in his return from loan against Wolves.

But Roméo Lavia is set to miss a few weeks more, at least, with his latest injury, and neither Benoît Badiashile nor Wesley Fofana seem all that close to returning.

Previously: Chelsea started the season with a 2-0 defeat at home against City, but we did manage a 1-1 draw at the Etihad last season, with former City player Raheem Sterling scoring our goal. Overall, we’ve had a terrible record against City since beating them in the 2021 Champions League final. I’ll take that trophy any day over other games, but it would be nice to restore a bit more balance to the match results.