Man City vs Chelsea a must watch

Chelsea has had a rough go in its last couple of matches-by the club's high standards, at least. First came a loss to Arsenal in the Community Shield, then a 2-2 draw with Swansea featuring a Thibaut Courtois red card in last weekend's opening Premier League match. On Sunday, the Blues will either get back on track or fly off the rails when they travel to the Etihad Stadium to face Manchester City team.

The match is our first chance to see some absolutely top-class football in the Premier League this season, as both teams are sureto fight for the title. The result on Sunday will be a test of sorts.


City beat West Brom 3-0 on Monday,but a win against Chelsea sends a message to the rest of the league that City are more than serious about competing for the title. A Chelsea loss, meanwhile, might spell doom and gloom for Mourinho and the club.
One reason a loss would bother Chelsea supporters is the club's marvelous record in August for the last decade or so. The Blues haven't lost in August in nine years, winning 23 and drawing five since their last loss in the month, which came way back on Aug. 23, 2006.

Manchester City has only beaten Chelsea twice in their last nine Premier League meetings. Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has also won seven of his twelve matches against Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini, losing two and drawing three. So history is definitely on Chelsea's side.

Chelsea's form looked poor for long stretches of last weekend's draw with Swansea. Attacking-wise, there was no sharpness, outside of the free-kick goal scored by Oscar. On the defensive end, usually reliable John Terry and Branislav Ivanovic looked out of sorts, although Gary Cahill put in a nice performance in central defense.

The biggest problem came from Courtois being sent off. Now Chelsea's star keeper will miss the match against City, giving way to Asmir Begovic. Begovic was more than solid against Swansea, but it could be a different story when the likes of Silva and Sergio Aguero are running toward him.

 

There is another interesting part of the match to watch out for, as Mourinho and Pellegrini engaged in a war of words through the press this summer. Pellegrini accused Mourinho of making everything about him when Chelsea wins.

Mourinho replied saying he didn't know why another manager was thinking about him while on vacation and referred to him as "Pellegrino."

Seeing how the two react to one another on the touch line should add a little excitement. The way Mourinho likes to play in these matches, a low-scoring draw would be far from a surprise. But if either team can come out with three points on Sunday, it will set itself up as the team to beat early in the season.