Manchester City vs. Chelsea: Predicted lineups, team news and score prediction

Things have gone from bad to worse for Manchester City as their season — at home and abroad — has progressed. After bottling a 2-0 lead versus Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League, they're back in battle on Saturday against Chelsea.

Pep's faltering side currently sits fifth in the Premier League table, two points behind their next opponents. City's last league outing was a 6-0 romp against Ipswich Town which — with all due respect to the Tractor Boys — doesn't really offer much in terms of insight or a possible path forward for a team that's lost its way. Instead, their midweek loss to PSG is much more indicative of how Saturday's game could shake out.

In Paris, under sheets of rain, Manchester City established themselves early in the second half with two goals in quick succession. But once PSG pulled one back, they seemed the only team likely to continue scoring. And continue they did — three more unanswered goals meant that PSG left their home stadium with a 4-2 win. But it wasn't just in goal scoring that City failed to dominate, they were able to complete only about half as many passes as their opponents and could only maintain 36% of the game's possession — absolutely unheard of in seasons past for the Citizens.

The composition of Chelsea's squad — young but expensive talents with a lot to prove — is quite similar to that of Paris Saint-Germain. In that sense, Manchester City's fate on Saturday will be determined by what they were able to learn in Paris.

Will Cole Palmer punish his former club?

While there's not seemed to be anything resembling serious bad blood between Chelsea's young star Cole Palmer and his former club, we can expect that he'll turn up at the Etihad with a chip on his shoulder, just as he has in the past. Erling Haaland may have more Premier League goals than Palmer, but the latter have surely been more impactful for his club.

Even more significantly, however, Chelsea's goals have been coming from all over the pitch. "Shutting down" Cole Palmer, to the extent that is possible, allows room for Noni Madueke, Jadon Sancho, and Pedro Neto. Against Wolves in their last outing, even Marc Cucurella — a bizarre but often effective fullback — got in on the goal-scoring action. Having said that, the Spaniard's primary duty on Saturday is to avoid being twisted up and left in the dirt by Haaland, as he was in the reverse fixture.

Broadly, Chelsea have every reason to feel confident going into the match. But their relative lack of experience makes them vulnerable against Manchester City. How, for instance, might they deal with new City signing Omar Marmoush? The Egyptian arrived from Frankfurt earlier in the week, and will undoubtedly be eager to make an impact.

Manchester City vs. Chelsea news, predicted lineup and score

In addition to Rodri— the elephant in City's locker room — Pep's squad continues to suffer from injuries to their defensive unit. Both Nathan Aké and Ruben Dias are sidelined indefinitely. Jeremy Doku, however, should be available after sitting out with a knock in Champions League action earlier in the week.

Defensive fixture Wesley Fofana is not estimated to make his return to Chelsea's squad until March, while Benoit Badiashile is looking at a February comeback. Mykhailo Mudryk, meanwhile, remains inelligable while a potential long term ban is being discussed, as a result of the Ukrainian reportedly testing positive for a banned substance.

Manchester City predicted line up: Ortega, Nunes, Akanji, Stones, Gvardiol, Silva, Kovicic, Foden, De Bruyne, Savinho, Haaland

Chelsea predicted line up: Sánchez, James, Adarabioyo, Colwill, Cucurella, Dewsbury-Hall, Caicedo, Neto, Palmer, Sancho, Jackson

Predicted Score: Manchester City 3-1 Chelsea.

How to watch Manchester City vs. Chelsea

• Date: Saturday, Jan. 25
• Start Time: 12:30 p.m. EST
• Location: Etihad Stadium — Manchester, England
• Watch: Peacock

Kickoff for the match is 12:30 p.m. ET, on Saturday, Jan. 25. The game will be streaming exclusively on Peacock.