Manchester City v Chelsea: If Antonio Conte’s Blues come through this test unscathed, the Premier League title is theirs to lose
Blues blogger TheChels.org has his say on this Saturday's top-of-the-table showdown, with the league title very much at stake
THIS weekend sees Antonio vs Pep, Conte vs Guardiola, Italy vs Spain, Chelsea vs Man City, 3-4-3 vs… well who knows what formation the Catalan campeon will select to try and nullify the march of the mighty Blues?
There is a lot to dissect surrounding the tactical nuances of the upcoming game, yet much is being written and said about just how to stop our Chelsea side.
It’s a compliment to just how well we are playing that here we are, away to Guardiola's City and against one of the best managers in the world, with one of the best squads around, and all the talk is about how they can stop us.
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This match is the last big test of Conte’s Chelsea before 2017 kicks off in earnest.
A run of wins starting with Hull away, then Champions Leicester followed by Jose’s United, tough games away at Southampton and Boro either side of a home demolition of Everton, followed up by a hard-fought match against Spurs last weekend, have each provided a sterner test than the last.
Spurs gave us arguably the toughest test since the 3-0 away defeat to Arsenal, and were clever in the way they pressed Victor Moses and Marcos Alonso in order to make us play deeper, something I’m sure won’t have gone amiss at the Etihad.
Conte however proved his tactical flexibility and changed the system and play slightly, as well as a deserved half time hairdryer session, and we all know what happened in the second half.
City like to play a high tempo pressing and passing game which leaves space in behind during transitions and turnovers.
If our defence can keep their discipline and follow the team orders, there’s no reason to think we can’t shut the doors and keep them out, or at worst keep them to a single goal which wouldn’t be unrecoverable.
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As much as our defence has been pivotal and, admittedly a lot better than any of us thought it could be when watching the Arsenal match, it will be our forward players that will define how this match plays out.
Thibaut Courtois, Cesar Azpilicueta, David Luiz, Gary Cahill, Moses, N'Golo Kante, Nemanja Matic and Alonso will provide the stable base for Pedro, Eden Hazard and Diego Costa to do what they’ve been doing so well recently.
Costa is in the form of his life right now, Hazard’s back to his dazzling best and Pedro finally showing us what we saw him do in a Barca shirt.
The first ten minutes will be key, City will be keen to get a good start and will press us from the off, if we can weather the initial onslaught and the team does its job, then City will leave spaces behind for us to exploit as they overload and try to play around or through us.
City now provide the ultimate and timely test of this Chelsea team and Conte’s system, come through unscathed and we may just be looking at the future Premier League champions.