Saturday evening sees Chelsea travel north to take on Pep Guardiola’s Man City and try and stop the juggernaut that’s seen Pep Guardiola’s side in that groove where they just seem to be able to churn out win after win.
The Blues also look to have turned the corner form wise, with the standard of performances in recent matches markedly better than earlier in the 2023/24 campaign.
Mauricio Pochettino knows his contemporary well of course, having gone up against him domestically and in Europe with Tottenham, and also in Europe with Paris Saint-Germain.
Who could forget that epic 2019 quarter-final at the Etihad Stadium which really did have it all, and which saw Pochettino’s Spurs progress at the expense of the Cityzens.
If there’s anything approaching that level of entertainment on Saturday, everyone should be going home happy.
The game is likely to be a sell out of course, so anyone not able to make the game in person can always do the next best thing and watch a Man City v Chelsea Live Stream.
From Guardiola’s point of view, the Champions League win over RB Leipzig on Tuesday night came at a significant cost.
Injuries to Bernardo Silva and Jack Grealish are expected to keep them out of Saturday’s showpiece.
“Bernardo (Silva) has a big knock in his ankle and I didn’t speak to Jack but it looks like it’s muscular,” the Man City manager said after that game (h/t Liverpool ECHO).
“Over the last few days, his mood in training has been much much better.
“He was playing really good and helped us play at the right tempo, you cannot play so slow or so fast against teams who are organised, you have to find the right moment and Jack helped us a lot. Hopefully he can recover quickly.”
Though it could be said that City do have the strongest squad in the Premier League, injuries to two key men is likely to disrupt their preparations for the game.
Given that Liverpool would’ve already played earlier in the day, a win for them at Brentford would pile even more pressure onto the reigning champions.
Pochettino hasn’t been overly critical of his side to date, preferring to back his players and give them the opportunity to improve.
It’s clear that results need to get better for the Blues, and the Argentinian would be the first to admit that, but to his credit, it was always felt he was taking on a project rather than an expectation that he would hit the ground running.
After so many players were sold last summer, it was obvious that it would take time for Chelsea’s new squad to gel together, and thanks to Pochettino’s hard work the Blues are beginning to see the fruits of his labour.
With nothing to lose too, we can expect the visitors to take the game to their opponents in what’s sure to be a must watch.
Can Chelsea gain at Etihad? I hope so.