Gary Neville has explained why he thinks Chelsea can take points off Manchester City in the Premier League this weekend. The Blues returned to winning ways in the league earlier this week with a 4-1 London derby win against Tottenham that saw Nicolas Jackson score a 22-minute hat-trick in the second half.
Spurs started the game in control but red cards to Cristian Romero and Destiny Udogie along with injuries to Micky van de Ven and James Maddison saw them lose their grip on the match. And as such, Chelsea were the first team to beat Ange Postecoglou in 90 minutes since he arrived in the Premier League as Spurs manager.
The victory at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium was Chelsea's third consecutive win away from home in the league, a very different record to the one currently on show at Stamford Bridge. In 2023, Chelsea have won just three league games on home soil with defeats to Aston Villa, Nottingham Forest and Brentford already happening in the new campaign.
Luton Town, Liverpool and Arsenal are the other teams to visit west London in the last few months with the Blues taking five points out of a possible nine. Interestingly, Chelsea were able to more than hold their own against Liverpool and Arsenal with the hosts, if anything, unfortunate to not take all three points.
While score draws against 'big six' rivals have already happened, Chelsea face a mammoth challenge to get something out of Pep Guardiola's Man City, however Gary Neville expects them to do exactly that. "To be honest with you I think Chelsea will do alright against Manchester City," he admitted on Sky Sports podcast Stick To Football. "In a couple of games I've seen at Stamford Bridge, they've done alright against big teams. Against Arsenal and Liverpool, they were really good. I'll go 1-1."
Neville's prediction did not go down well with fellow presenters Roy Keane and Ian Wright with the latter replying: "I don't think Chelsea score. Who is going to score? They create but they're not scoring, that's the thing." While goals have been hard to come by for Chelsea, teams attempting to match them have often struggled as pointed out by Neville and they could therefore be a serious threat on the counter-attack.
Cole Palmer, who has been electric since his move from Man City, will certainly be aiming to prove a point against his former employers by adding to his three Premier League goals scored so far this season.
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