Preview
'Lucky' City look to multiply Mourinho's misery.
'Underachieving', 'lucky' and 'benefiting from too many decisions'. We've heard it all now, but the grumblings of a miserable Portuguese manager are unlikely to faze Manchester City's easy-going Chilean.
Manuel Pellegrini has endured the whines and wails of José Mourinho this week in the build up to arguably the biggest Premier League fixture of the season so far, but despite the awkwardly desperate attempts of his opposite number, City's Chilean chancellor refuses to be drawn into mind games.
In an interview with BBC Sport, the quirky Chelsea manager said that Manchester City have underachieved since their takeover by Sheik Mansour in 2008 and proposed that Pellegrini's side had benefited from their fair share of poor refereeing decisions throughout the season.
'They won one title, won a couple of cups,' Mourinho said, before adding 'The reality is they have many crucial decisions in their favour'. But whether it's the three points that separate the two blues or some residual anger from Chelsea's recent bore draw with strugglers West Ham, the Portuguese boss has certainly been rather miserable this week.
(Down in the dumps: José Mourinho has had his say on Manchester City this week)
Nevertheless, the threat Mourinho's side pose is undeniable, and a blue, barbaric and breathtaking clash of the titans will commence at the Etihad Stadium on Monday night. The Londoner's are unbeaten in their last eight Premier League games and managed to shine admidst the mediocrity of the recent January transfer window.
The high-profile £37m sale of Juan Mata to Manchester United outlined Mourinho's craving for pace as he welcomed Egyptian winger Mohamed Salah to Stamford Bridge as the Spaniard's replacement. However, with just 10 goals to show from a regular forward partnership of Fernando Torres and Samuel Eto'o, questions will be raised over the blue's decision not to bring in a striker.
Fortunately, goalscoring hasn't threatened to deflate the 'Special One's' bloated ego and the brilliance of Eden Hazard and Oscar has ensured the Premier League title remains in Chelsea's reach. Fifteen goals and seven assists between the pair have somewhat justified José Mourinho's focus on his midfield and their magic has provided a rare twinkle in a rigid Chelsea side this season.
Although the blues haven't soared into the top four with the grace seen under the Portuguese manager in his first stint at the club, they definitely know how to win a game and will be looking to prove that Manchester City's 100% home record this campaign has just been a by-product of luck.
(Terrible twosome: Manchester City will have to nullify the threat of both Eden Hazard and Oscar if they are to continue their perfect home run)
Strolling his way through Mourinho's contemptuous comments, Manuel Pellegrini sat down to discuss the importance of his side continuing their fine run.
'I'm not concerned about these things [Mourinho's comments], I'm concerned about the amount of games we have to play, the Chilean said before insisting 'it would be a very important win but after that game we have 42 points more to play for'.
It seems Pellegrini has finally adressed his mathematical weaknesses and a 12 game unbeaten run in the league suggests the South American's title chasers have the required ammunition to dispose of Chelsea's threat on Monday night.
However, City's pre-match preparations suffered an irritating wound on Wednesday when Sergio Agüero limped off with a hamstring injury in City's 5-1 win over Tottenham Hotspur. The Argentine's return to first team football saw him net 7 goals in 5 games as he launched a fresh bid to blast Luis Suárez off the perch of the Premier League goalscoring charts, but the forward's most recent set-back has shone the limelight firmly over the heads of Álvaro Negredo, Edin Džeko and Stevan Jovetić.
(Sergio Agüero has been ruled out of action for a month with a hamstring injury)
However, the striker's absence isn't likely to scrap Manuel's mission for goals as the blues netted 22 times in 8 games when the Argentine last acquainted himself with Manchester City's physio room. His blue buddies Álvaro Negredo and Edin Džeko have a measly combined total of 40 goals this season, and with Stevan Jovetić netting his first league goal of the season against Spurs on Wednesday night, the Etihad Stadium shouldn't be expecting their side to relinquish their rampant form in front of goal on Monday.
With a certain Portuguese manager to prove wrong and a sickening Hart-Nastasić mistake to put right, Manchester City will be hoping for all the luck in the world on Monday night.
Prediction: Manchester City 2 - 1 Chelsea
Sergio Agüero's latest set-back will see the sky blues without their star striker for another month. The Argentine provided City with the equaliser at Stamford Bridge before Fernando Torres secured a crucial late winner for Mourinho's team. However, Álvaro Negredo has fully recovered from a shoulder injury suffered in City's 5-0 FA Cup win over Blackburn Rovers and is expected to lead City's line. James Milner, Javi García and Samir Nasri are out of Monday's tie.
(Thumbs up: The Beast is set to return for the blues on Monday night)
Fernando Torres misses the game for Chelsea.
Possible line-ups
Manchester City: Hart, Zabaleta, Kompany, Demichelis, Clichy, Fernandinho, Yaya Touré, Silva, Navas, Džeko, Negredo
Chelsea: Cech, Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry, Azpilicueta, Lampard, Matic, Ramires, Oscar, Hazard, Eto'o
- Chelsea have not beaten Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium since September 2008. Goals from Ricardo Carvalho, Frank Lampard and Nicolas Anelka spoiled Robinho's debut
- The sky blues ran out 2-0 winners in last year's fixture thanks to goals from Yaya Touré and Carlos Tevez
- In 78 league games on home turf, Manchester City have beaten Chelsea 31 times. Chelsea have won 21 of those games with the other 16 ending in draws
Premier League stats
- Manchester City (68) have scored 25 more goals than Chelsea (43) this season
- However, the sky blues (26) have conceded 6 more goals than their Monday night opponents (20)
- Both sides have an impressive pass completion rate of 86% and 83% respectively
- City (325) have created 30 more chances than Chelsea (295)
