Premier League: back City to march on against Chelsea

Victory at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday lunchtime would move Manchester City 13 points clear at the top of the table. Liverpool will have the chance to cut the gap to 11 points by beating Brentford on Sunday, but even that would be a sizeable margin to overturn.

Put simply, if City beat Chelsea this weekend the title race will probably be over. That's quite the incentive for Pep Guardiola's side, who are seeking a 12th consecutive win in the top flight.

City were excellent in the reverse fixture back in September. They nullified Chelsea's attack and pressed their opponents into submission. Guardiola's men were well worth their 1-0 triumph.

City will look to make a fast start here, just as they did in that first meeting between the sides at Stamford Bridge. The champions have scored in the first 16 minutes of four of their last five Premier League games, while they have led at half-time in nine of their last 11 matches. Back City to lead at the interval at 2.28.

Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel is unlikely to play the same formation he used when the Blues lost to City earlier this season

Chelsea will need to show attacking intent

Chelsea cannot afford to lose this match if they are to remain in the title race. Thomas Tuchel's team struggled to carve out openings in their first game against City this season, and there is little chance of the German opting for the 3-5-2 formation that was so ineffective back in September.

Romelu Lukaku is back and ready to lead the line again, and the Belgian will be desperate to put recent off-field issues behind him. Mason Mount has been in good form of late, scoring four goals and providing three assists in his last eight Premier League matches. With City likely to have plenty of the ball, Marcos Alonso's galloping runs from left-back could be key on the counter-attack.

Chelsea might not be able to prevent another City win, but they should be able to find the net. Our traders price a home win and both teams to score at 3.55.

Sterling back in Guardiola's good books

Raheem Sterling found himself out of favour earlier this season. He wasn't seeing eye to eye with Guardiola and admitted he would be interested in exploring opportunities to play abroad.

More recently, though, the England international has regained his position as an important member of the City side. He isn't guaranteed to start every week, but Sterling is likely to feature from the first whistle on Saturday.

Whether he's deployed on the right, the left or through the middle, he will get into goalscoring positions. A price of 6.6 on the winger opening the scoring makes it worth a punt.

Recommended bets

Manchester City to win and both teams to score at 3.55

Manchester City to win the first half at 2.28

Raheem Sterling to score first at 6.6