The 175th meeting between Chelsea and reigning Premier League champions Manchester City takes centre stage at Stamford Bridge on Sunday afternoon.
Chelsea returned to winning ways and condemned former league leaders Tottenham Hotspur to their first defeat of the season when they put their London rivals to the sword 4-1 in a chaotic contest last Monday, which saw Nicolas Jackson net a hat-trick and Spurs reduced to nine men.
Man City, meanwhile, capitalised on Tottenham's implosion to climb to the top of the Premier League table courtesy of a thumping 6-1 victory over Bournemouth, before cruising to a 3-0 win against Young Boys in the Champions League on Tuesday to secure their place in the last 16.
Pep Guardiola's men, who could slip down to second ahead of Sunday's trip to the capital if Spurs beat Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday lunchtime, will be keen to enter the international break on a high by beating Mauricio Pochettino's Chelsea side, who sit 10th in the table and nine points behind the top four.
Ahead of the enticing contest at Stamford Bridge, Sports Mole takes a closer look at the head-to-head record between the clubs.
HEAD-TO-HEAD RECORD
Matches: 174
Chelsea wins: 71
Draws: 40
Manchester City wins: 63
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One hundred and 16 years have passed since Chelsea and Man City locked horns for the very first time, playing out a 2-2 draw at Stamford Bridge which is one of 40 stalemates between the two teams over the years.
Chelsea marginally lead the overall head-to-head record between the two clubs, as they have won a total of 71 times against the Citizens, who themselves have picked up 63 victories versus the Blues.
In the Premier League era (since 1992-93), Chelsea have bested Man City on 27 occasions across 52 meetings, losing 18 games and drawing just seven, but the Citizens have come out on top in five of their eight FA Cup meetings with the West Londoners and have also won three out of four EFL Cup encounters, including one via a penalty shootout in the 2019 final.
Arguably the most high-profile showdown between these two clubs took place in Istanbul in May 2021 when a first-half goal from Kai Havertz helped Chelsea claim a slender 1-0 win over Man City in the final of the Champions League, a competition that the Citizens eventually won for the first time in their history last season to complete a famous treble.
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Chelsea largely dominated this fixture with Man City in the first half of the Premier League era, winning 18 matches out of 24 and scoring 45 goals in the process – their longest-ever winning run against the Citizens was an eight-game streak between December 2005 and March 2009.
However, the tables have gradually turned in City's favour in recent memory, as they have won 16 and drawn three of their last 28 top-flight clashes with Chelsea, scoring 42 goals during this period, while the Blues have won the remaining nine fixtures.
Since Chelsea's aforementioned Champions League triumph over Man City over two years ago, the West Londoners have lost each of their last six encounters with the Citizens across all competitions by an aggregate score of 10-0, suffering 1-0 defeats in each of their last four Premier League meetings during this run.
Last season, former Man City winger Riyad Mahrez scored the only goal of the game in a 1-0 victory over Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in January, while Julian Alvarez was set up by Cole Palmer – who swapped City for Chelsea in the summer – to score the match-winner in another narrow win by the same scoreline at the Etihad Stadium in May, the most recent meeting between the two clubs.
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Interestingly, Pochettino has faced Man City (20) more than any other opponent in his managerial career, while Guardiola has only encountered Arsenal (29) on more occasions than Chelsea (25) in his coaching career.
Guardiola – formerly of Barcelona and Bayern Munich – has won 14, drawn three and lost eight of his 25 meetings versus the Blues, including 13 wins and seven losses as Man City boss over the last seven years, while Pochettino has won six, drawn three and lost 11 of his 20 meetings with the Citizens during his time in charge of former clubs Paris Saint-Germain, Tottenham and Southampton.
Man City legend Sergio Aguero is the all-time leading scorer in this fixture with 13 goals in 21 matches, including two memorable Premier League hat-tricks – his first in a 3-0 away win in April 2016 and his second in a thumping 6-0 home victory in October 2019.
Frank Lampard, who represented both Chelsea and Man City, is next on the list with eight goals, including seven for the former, while ex-Blues forward Jimmy Greaves and former Citizens duo Carlos Tevez and Francis Lee all netted six times.
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Oliver Thomas
