The Premier League season for the 2024/25 season kicks off on 16th August with a match between Manchester United and Fulham. This season’s fixture gets back to tasty actions as Chelsea hosts the Premier League winners for the 2023/24 season at Stamford Bridge (London) on Sunday 18th of August, 2024 as the first competitive match for the new Chelsea coach Enzo Maresca. It is iconic also for Maresca who was a student of Pep Guardiola from July 5 2022 till June 30 2023 as an assistant coach before he moved on to accept the Leicester job from July 1 2023 to June 30 2024 and the Chelsea job that he took up on the 1st of July 2024. Maresca has the intention of introducing Pep Guardiola’s style of play, as has been evident in Chelsea’s matches during the pre-season. This match, will be however, a taste to see how far Chelsea have gone in imbibing this style and a direct contact with the masters of the act. They will definitely know where to strengthen and where to get better at as they advance in this journey with Maresca.

Manchester City finished 1st last season to win their 4th consecutive Premier League and Pep Guardiola’s 6th Premier League in seven years as he begins his eighth year as Manchester City manager. For two consecutive times, he seemed to have lost the league, and Arsenal seemed to have won the league, but they have in those two occasions snatched the trophy off the hands of Arteta and his men. Manchester City won 28, drew 7, and lost 3 of the 38matches last season to win the league, finishing with 62goal difference and 91points last season. Pep Guardiola and his men have instituted themselves as one of the best attacking teams in the league and has the best pressure management and the most consistent in the league as they won almost all of their second leg fixture in the Premier League safe for the draw with Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal. Manchester City met Chelsea three times last season, twice in the league and ones in the FA Cup. Of those times, two of them ended in 4-4 and 1-1 draw for the 1st and 2nd leg respectively. The only win Manchester City had over Chelsea last season came in the FA Cup 1-0 to their advantage. Aside from Chelsea, Manchester City did not concede 4goals in a single match to any team at all last season. The closest were the 3-3 draw from Tottenham in the first half of the season and Real Madrid in the first leg of the Champions League last season. This lends voice to how good this team is, not only in attacking their opponents but defensively as well. It, however, shows how strong an opponent Chelsea is for this Pep Guardiola’s side, especially last season. However, Manchester City will like their dominance to cut across all quarters and boundaries once this league is concerned. Their win in the FA Community Shield last weekend and the manner in which they won it (equalizing in the 89th minute and winning the match in the penalty shootout), will go a long way to boast their confidence as they go into this match against one of their strongest opponent in the league.

Chelsea have yet again changed hands in the managerial role in their quest to return to glory after a failed attempt by Pochettino. Pochettino, at the end of last season, seemed to have come to understand his team more than he did in the beginning to move Chelsea to a top 6 finish. He won the majority of his matches at the end of the season, including Manchester United, which Chelsea has not won since 2016. However, that good performance was not enough to secure his job at the end of the season. With the appointment of Enzo Maresca, the expectation for this team has gone up so high. Their performance in the pre-season although the results may not attest to the improvement this team has made, their courageous outing, their pressing style and the big teams they had to face in the pre-season has a lot to say about the improvement this team has made so far. Chelsea will hope for a better and stronger performance this season as most of their players have returned from injury especially the Nkunku who will be their point man this season after they missed his quality and presence almost the whole of last season. Chelsea is active in the ongoing transfer window as they look to secure the signature of Victor Osimhen and Joao Felix before the transfer window closes in a bit to strengthen their attacking options ahead of the new season. However, they will have to face one of the best in the league, a club that has proven its dominance in the past 7years. Their dominance notwithstanding, Chelsea has always been a very strong opponent for Manchester City, and they will hope to do more this season. Chelsea was among the three clubs that Manchester failed to win in the Premier League last season alongside Liverpool and Arsenal. They will be hoping to grab a win against Manchester City in the Premier League like Arsenal did while not losing to them at all. They will need to stay injury free and work harder in this fixture if they want to achieve that.

These teams have met themselves 161times in all competition with Chelsea winning 62times and Manchester City 58times and 41times, the match ended in a draw. In all matches between these two, a total of 433goals have been scored with Chelsea, leading in the goals scored as well with 219goal while Manchester City is not far off with 214goals. For the 150times they met in the Premier League, Chelsea won 59times and Manchester City 51times and 40 of the matches ended in draw. The match between these two has always been a very strong and competitive one. Chelsea has all the advantage once the stats is concerned, but they are to leave it up in reality to keep their flag in this tie flying. In their last 20meetings in all competitions, Manchester City won 12times, and Chelsea won 5times while 3times, it has ended up squared. This shows how things have turned around for Chelsea that dominated this tie and won most of the match years back. They will be looking to get back to their olden days result in this competition.

A lot will be required of any team that wishes to go home with all 3points. With both teams eager for it, it will definitely be a clash of Titians as both teams have what it takes to get the whole 3points. Do not miss this clash between the England’s best six, match that has a lot of entertainment that will be worth the time spent on it. Do not miss this historic outing as Chelsea look forward to winning Manchester City they won last in 2021, both in the Champions and Premier League. Do not miss this struggle for dominance!!

Best Tip: Manchester City win or draw

Correct Score: 1-2