Chelsea v Manchester City: Premier League – live

Chelsea make two changes to the side that walloped Port Vale last weekend. Their two MCs, Marc Cucurella and Moises Caicedo, replace Tosin Adarabioyo and Romeo Lavia.

No surprise that Manchester City are unchanged from the thumping win over Liverpool.

Chelsea (4-2-3-1) Sanchez; Gusto, Fofana, Hato, Cucurella; Caicedo, Andrey Santos; Estevao, Palmer, Neto; Joao Pedro.

Subs: Sharman-Lowe, Acheampong, Tosin, Sarr, Essugo, Lavia, Garnacho, Guiu, Delap.

Man City (4-2-3-1) Donnarumma; Nunes, Khusanov, Guehi, O’Reilly; Bernardo, Rodri; Semenyo, Cherki, Doku; Haaland.

Subs: Trafford, Reijnders, Ake, Marmoush, Kovacic, Nico, Ait-Nouri, Savinho, Foden.

Referee Chris Kavanagh.

Enzo Fernández and Rodri would quite like to move to Madrid; many people would. They both said as much in the international break, those special parts of the season when players join up with their national teams and give interviews while apparently unaware that media are global these days: a whisper on Luzo TV can soon become a hurricane in London. But Rodri will line up for Manchester City at Chelsea on Sunday, while Fernández will not, suspended by the club for “crossing a line”.

It’s worth, perhaps, looking at exactly what was said. Fernández expressed disappointment at Enzo Maresca’s departure on New Year’s Day. “It … hurt a lot,” he told Luzo, “because we had a lot of identity, he gave us order, but it’s the way that football is, sometimes it’s good, sometimes it’s bad. But we always had a clear identity when it came to training, playing and obviously his departure hurt us especially in the middle of the season – it cuts everything short.” Sadness that a manager has gone surely isn’t a crime; it could even be supportive of Liam Rosenior and the difficulty of taking over a club mid-season.

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We shouldn’t really start a Chelsea v Manchester City blog by talking about Manchester United, but hear me out. United won the Premier League ahead of Blackburn in 1993-94 because Mark Hughes scored a monstrous volley in an FA Cup semi-final against Oldham. (If you want to know the full story, listen to the outstanding And It’s Live! podcast. The short version is that United’s season was falling apart until Hughes scored a last-minute equaliser against Oldham, after which they rallied to win the Double.)

No football league exists in isolation. Form, morale, rhythm extend across all competitions; this season, the Premier League’s unusual spring break means the cups have been the vehicle for some dramatic moodswings.

Can you even remember City’s last Premier League match? It was a meh 1-1 draw at West Ham a month ago, a result which many of us thought had ended the title race. But then City played admirably with 10 men in defeat to Real Madrid, outplayed Arsenal in the Carabao Cup final and trounced Liverpool in the FA Cup. At the same time, Arsenal’s knees started to jellify. Now, almost unbelievably, the title is effectively back in City’s hands.

They’re still nine points adrift, but they have two games in hands plus a home match against Arsenal this time next week. If City win their last eight games, the best Arsenal can do is finish level on points with them.

City’s run-in starts with a trip to Stamford Bridge, a match that is never easy – not even when Chelsea are in the middle of another drama/crisis. Chelsea, who are in danger of slipping behind in the Champions League race, host both Manchester clubs in the next seven days.

It’s a big game for Chelsea and a huge one in the title race. If City win, all the momentum will be with them ahead of next Sunday’s match against Arsenal. If they don’t, the pressure will be back in their court.

Kick off 4.30pm.

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