Chelsea v Manchester City predictions: Champions can wear down Blues at Bridge

Free football tips, best bets and analysis for Chelsea v Manchester City in the Premier League on Thursday.

Where to watch

Sky Sports Premier League & Main Event, 8pm Thursday

Best bet

Draw-Manchester City double result
1pt 19-5 Hills

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Team news

Chelsea
The Blues are missing the injured Reece James, N'Golo Kante, Wesley Fofana and Armando Broja while Ben Chilwell, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and goalkeeper Edouard Mendy are unlikely to feature.

Manchester City
Ruben Dias is sidelined and fellow centre-back Aymeric Laporte will be assessed. World Cup winner Julian Alvarez is back at the club and could be on the bench.

Match preview

This time last year, Manchester City were kicking on from the front in the Premier League title race but this season they have ground to make up on surprise leaders Arsenal.

Pep Guardiola's men were 1-20 to win the league in the first week of January 2022 before Liverpool's bold challenge took the title scrap down to the final 15 minutes of the season.

This time, City are chasing rather than leading and they were given a boost on Tuesday night when Arsenal, 50-1 in the ante-post Premier League betting, missed out on the chance to go ten points clear as they were held to a 0-0 draw at home to highflying Newcastle.

Having led the Citizens to four championships in the past five seasons, Guardiola should not be too worried about the Gunners' progress under his former assistant Mikel Arteta at this stage of the campaign, particularly as City are yet to play Arsenal this term.

The champions must focus on their own performances and bookmakers expect them to kick off 2023 with a victory at Chelsea, who continued their disappointing form with a 1-1 draw at Nottingham Forest last time out.

Manchester United's improvement has left Graham Potter's Blues ten points adrift of the top four and influential full-back Reece James has joined a lengthy list of injury absentees including N'Golo Kante, Wesley Fofana and Ben Chilwell.

Chelsea took just two points from their last five league matches before the World Cup break, scoring only once from open play in that run, and they also lost 2-0 at Manchester City in the EFL Cup on November 9.

City's goals in that cup win came early in the second half, from Riyad Mahrez and World Cup winner Julian Alvarez, and the draw-Manchester City double result looks an appealing bet again.

The champions have not been at their relentless, ruthless best and their last three league results, either side of the World Cup, were a 2-1 home defeat to Brentford, a 3-1 win at Leeds and a 1-1 draw with struggling Everton on New Year's Eve.

City had been 1-8 to beat the Toffees and Erling Haaland gave them a 24th-minute lead but Everton equalised after the break with their only shot on target, much to the frustration of the title favourites.

Chelsea's underlying stats suggest they are not much better than their mid-table league position and, having scored just 20 times in 16 league games, they are unlikely to want an open, free-flowing contest.

Their recent matches against top-four teams Manchester United, Arsenal and Newcastle were all goalless at half-time, as was the EFL Cup clash with City, but the visitors could unleash Mahrez, Alvarez and Phil Foden from the bench and they are worth backing to show their class in the second half.