Chelsea vs Manchester City Prediction & Betting Tips (18 August)

Despite massive investments in the transfer market in recent years, Chelsea are still unable to return to the upper echelons of the rankings across the Channel. Worse still, the Blues once again failed to qualify for a European Cup by only taking 6th place in the ranking, still 5 lengths from the top 4. Eager to at least find this Big 4 before considering involved in the race for the title, the London club will be expected at another level this year. During the summer, Christopher Nkunku's partners were held to a draw by Wrexham 2-2 then beaten by Celtic Glasgow 1-4. They then got back on track by dominating Club America 3-0 but lost their last two friendlies of their preseason, against Manchester City 4-2, then against Real Madrid 2-1.  After achieving a historic treble in 2022-2023, Manchester City was unable to repeat this performance last year.

"An honour to be in charge of these guys" 🩵 pic.twitter.com/ZauTP4ffT6

— Manchester City (@ManCity) August 18, 2024

The club from the North of England even had to roll up its sleeves to obtain a new title of champion of England by only 2 points ahead of Arsenal on the evening of the last day thanks, in particular, to an excellent series of 9 consecutive victories at the end of the season. Otherwise, the Citizen were dominated in the final of the FA Cup by Manchester United 1-2 and they were eliminated in the quarter-finals of the Champions League by Real Madrid. During the summer, Pep Guardiola's squad got off to a poor start in their preparation with two defeats against Celtic Glasgow 3-4 and AC Milan 2-3 and a draw conceded against Barcelona 2-2. After beating Chelsea for their last friendly 4-2, they won the Community Shield on penalties on Saturday 1-1 final score against Manchester United.

As often in recent years, Chelsea have been very active on the transfer market by attracting midfielder Dewsbury-Hall (Leicester), goalkeeper Jorgensen (Villarreal), fairly promising attacking midfielder Kellyman (Aston Villa), and players with a more defensive vocation like Veiga (FC Basel), Wiley (Atlanta) and Adarabioyo (Fulham). Also note that young Marc Guiu (Barcelona) has also arrived and that Andrey Santos (Strasbourg), Kepa (Real Madrid), Angelo (Strasbourg) and Lukaku (Roma) are back after being loaned last season. In terms of departures, we can point out those of Hutchinson (Ipswich) and Thiago Silva (Fluminense). Author of 22 goals and 11 assists last year, Cole Palmer is still present as is Senegalese striker Jackson (14 goals, 5 assists) and Sterling (8 goals, 4 assists). Often hampered by injuries, Christopher Nkunku (3 goals in 11 appearances) hopes to finally shine in the Blues jersey. Manchester City did not wish to retain defender Harwood-Bellis (Southampton) and midfielder Doyle (Wolverhampton).

Conversely, full-back Cancelo (Barcelona) and Phillips (West Ham) returned from their loan but they could leave the squad again. Savinho (Troyes, loaned to Girona last year) joined this group.  Of course, Pep Guardiola should always count on the essential Haaland (27 goals and 5 assists in the PL) who did not play the Euro and who could start this new exercise strong. The best player in the Premier League, Foden (19 goals and 8 assists in the PL) missed the Euro and he should want to turn the page. Finally, Rodri (8 goals and 9 assists in PL), Bernardo Silva (6 goals and 9 assists in PL) and De Bruyne (4 goals and 10 assists in PL) should also be present in the same way as Doku (3 goals and 8 passes in PL).