Overview
A new season, a new coach takes charge at Stamford Bridge. Enzo Maresca will have to meet champion Manchester City in his first official match leading the Blues.
Maresca will become the fourth Chelsea manager to face the defending champions in their first Premier League match. And in all 3 previous matches, the Blues lost.
Despite leading Leicester City to the Championship title last season, the appointment of Maresca is still a somewhat contradictory decision by Todd Boehly. The Italian strategist does not have as much experience as his predecessors at Stamford Bridge and will need a good start.
As a coach from the school of Pep Guardiola, Maresca is expected to apply strong pressing and ball control at Chelsea. In a series of friendly matches in the summer of 2024, Maresca lost to his teacher Guardiola in the United States.
In contrast to Chelsea , Man City still believes in the framework that won the Premier League last season. The departure of Julian Alvarez and new contract Savinho are their most notable moves this summer.
However, Guardiola is facing a big problem when star midfielder Rodri cannot play. The Spain international just returned to training after being named the Best Player of EURO 2024.
Since the beginning of the 2022-2023 season, Man City has lost only 6 out of 102 matches with Rodri in the starting lineup. On the contrary, when the Spanish midfielder was absent, The Citizens lost 18 matches during that period.
In the Premier League last season, Man City boasted a record of 27 wins, 7 draws and no losses when Rodri appeared, but they lost 3 out of 4 matches when he was absent.
Confrontation achievements
Man City's latest away trip to Stamford Bridge was one of the best matches in the Premier League last season. Cole Palmer scored the decisive goal in the final minute of stoppage time to help Chelsea achieve a 4-4 draw last November.
However, the Blues did not win in the last 6 encounters with Man City in the Premier League (2 draws, 4 losses). Their most recent victory over their opponents took place in May 2021 when Thomas Tuchel was still in office.
Since winning the 2020-2021 Champions League final, Chelsea has lost 9 consecutive matches against Man City in all competitions.
Predict the score
As the defending champion, Man City is rated higher than Chelsea, with a 59.6% win rate. Meanwhile, there is a 19.6% chance that Chelsea will keep 3 points at home. The remaining 20.8% is the prospect of the two teams sharing points at Stamford Bridge.
Prediction: Chelsea 1-2 Man City
The match between Chelsea vs Man City takes place at 10:30 p.m. on August 18 (Vietnam time).
