Manchester City face a tricky trip to Stamford Bridge tonight and they need a victory to reduce Arsenal’s lead to five points at the top of the league.
If you had been told in advance that Manchester City would sign a striker in the summer who would score 21 goals in his first 15 Premier League games, the only question to ponder would be how close they were to winning the title.
Instead, City have added the one missing piece to the wonderfully-constructed jigsaw, but now found the edges fraying. Erling Haaland has fulfilled his end of the bargain, but the Blues have dropped points in five of their 16 league games so far, including at home to Brentford and Everton in their two most recent outings.
They are eight points behind Arsenal at the top and while that gap will shrink to five with a win at Stamford Bridge, there are elements of City’s current form that will be a little concerning to Pep Guardiola. There are excellent performances in there, such as against Liverpool in the Carabao Cup and at Elland Road last week, but also some flat and uninspiring displays.
Guardiola insisted he was happy enough with the display against Everton, but the Toffees’ result at home to Brighton on Tuesday put it into sharper focus. City also dropped points at Aston Villa before Steven Gerrard was sacked and while they can be electric one week, they can be eclectic the next.
A week ago Guardiola insisted that Haaland could get even better, but it feels like his teammates can get better as well when it comes to adapting to life with a striker. After a couple of years of success with barely playing a static striker, it was always going to take time for this team to reconfigure and after six weeks away at the World Cup, the good habits they might have built up will have been forgotten.
Some of Guardiola’s decisions are being debated by City fans away from the Etihad. The decision to wait until the 87th minute to make a chance against the Toffees and the recent absence of Phil Foden have left some perplexed.
But a difficult trip this week might come at an ideal time. If City play like they did against Brentford and Everton they could struggle, but they usually raise their game.
Guardiola spoke of Bernardo Silva’s ability to be decisive in big games on Wednesday, which suggests he could play, and there could be changes in attack as well. Jack Grealish and Riyad Mahrez have emerged as the favoured wide men recently for the control they offer, but there is also a sense it has led to City playing more with the handbrake on.
Foden’s exclusion from the starting XI for six of the last seven Premier League games might make it difficult for him to go into a game like that, but Guardiola could consider giving Julian Alvarez a start.
The World Cup winner will have returned to the Etihad full of confidence and in Qatar he showed he has the game intelligence to play with another forward, developing an excellent understanding with Lionel Messi.
Guardiola hinted in the first half of the season that he could play the two together and before the World Cup they had moments where they looked sharp as a partnership. Before the season took its pause they were on the pitch together in nine games, totalling 268 minutes, in which City have scored 13 goals, at one every 20 minutes. It’s an imperfect science, but that equates to 4.5 goals per 90 minutes.
Unleashing that partnership at Stamford Bridge might be a risk, but with Graham Potter favouring a back three at Chelsea, it would give those central defenders more to think about. It’s also a change that could offer City even more going forward than just the devastating threat of Haaland.
SOURCE: manchestereveningnews.co.uk
