Saturday’s curtain-closer finds Chelsea and Manchester City colliding at Stamford Bridge. The Blues’ 15-match unbeaten streak came to an end at the hands of Swansea City last Gameweek, while City will be buoyant following their midweek Champions League triumph.
Despite recording the second-most attempts (69) of any team in their previous quartet of league ties, Man City charted in the bottom half for big chances (four), underlining their inefficiency at carving out clear-cut opportunities. Manuel Pellegrini’s men excelled from a defensive standpoint during that period – conceding two goals and the fewest shots inside the box (18) – and have registered two more clean sheets (nine) than any team on their travels.
Only three teams tallied more goals than Chelsea (11) in their last six fixtures, highlighting the Londoners’ renewed attacking impetus under Gus Hiddink. Although Chelsea have only conceded four times in their previous four outings, the fact they ranked joint-fourth for shots inside the box conceded (35) and joint-sixth for big chances surrendered (six) exposes a lack of resolve that the visitors could exploit.
