Chelsea reached the League Cup final on Tuesday night after defeating Liverpool in extra time in the second leg of their semi final. It wasn’t all positive for Jose Mourinho and his players, though, as Diego Costa was deemed to have deliberately stamped on Emre Can, earning him a three match ban. It means he’ll miss this huge match at home to City. Didier Drogba will likely come in for him to lead the line but there’s no doubt that Costa will be missed. That aside, Chelsea know that a win would be a massive boost to their hopes of winning the Premier League title.
City have endured a very sticky spell just at the wrong time as they looked like mounting a serious title challenge. After winning 12 out of 13 matches in all competitions, they have failed to win any of their last three competitive matches, drawing with Everton and losing to Arsenal in the league, before a shock 2-0 home defeat to Middlesbrough in the FA Cup. It leaves them five points behind Chelsea and Manuel Pellegrini will be under no illusions that they have to, at the very least, avoid defeat on Saturday.
Mourinho’s men were also on the end of a cup upset last Saturday despite going 2-0 up in the first half against Bradford. They ended up losing 4-2 to the League One side which left the manager incandescent with rage. In typical Chelsea fashion under Mourinho, they followed that shock defeat by keeping a clean sheet for 120 minutes against Liverpool, despite not being at their best.
The absence of Yaya Toure through African Cup of Nations with Ivory Coast has coincided with this poor run that City are on. Despite not reaching the heights of last season, the powerful midfielder clearly remains a huge influence. It might well fall on former Chelsea player, Frank Lampard, to fill that position. He came off the bench to score the equaliser when these two sides met in September, and you wouldn’t put it passed them having say once again.
As well as Costa missing through suspension, Chelsea also look set to be without Cesc Fabregas who was taken off injured in the match against Liverpool. Both those players have been pivotal to the success of Chelsea this season and they will definitely miss them. I’m not convinced City have to win this match, a draw would keep them within touching distance and that’s the most likely result for me.
Draw 5/2 @ Stan James
