They do are the one with best defensive team right now with 13 goals conceded this PL season and their defense has been involved in scoring too. Cancelo has 1 goal and 5 assists to his name, Laporte and Dias has also two goals each to their name. Liverpool with two games in hand might become the closest one to catch on to City but with the form City are in its hard to say.

Chris Wood actually is good give his age but 30million seems like really waste of money. I really do wonder who is behind the brains for this transfer inside Newcastle. Seems like failure of getting any big names is just taking toll on their heads now. Except for Trippier , I did't liked any of the their transfers.

Another striker? Seems wierd in my opinion. Danny Ings and Watkins are enough for Aston Villa in my opinion but its good to have an experienced striker like Luis Suarez and furthermore won't cost them much also. He already seems to be unsettled at Atletico Madrid and getting back playing under the direction of former teammate will work out well for him now. Decent transfer news but doesn't feels like an impactful one.

Haaland is young and haven't had any prior experiences in major club so yeah can understand him being unable to handle the pressure. But yeah it is also true that this is normal but Dortmund also shouldn't force him like that. He earlier send out signal one or two year ago when asked about the next club and he said that he has contract with Dortmund right now and he respects the club so won't get away suddenly. I think his plans would have eventually have been out if they would have provided him contract extension- and Haaland accepting that or/rejecting that would have eventually indicated about his plans about the future.

Yeah good point that coming out public could possibly stop this pressurizing on him.

I would say it was still worth a shot even if they would have beaten City. Who knows maybe they later on had back-to-back losses or drop of points and enough for making a good competition in some last few rounds of the PL. Guess now it seems rather hard with this win. Seems more like a race of coming 2nd or 3rd for them.

Aston Villa vs United up ahead and it is likely that Coutinho might feature in this match. Can't wait to see how this match goes. 

Pressurizing a player is really bad and Dortmund taking that step has pushed Haaland into thinking about moving away from the German club. Haaland is a very focused player and all he wants to do is play football and this thing is coming in between so naturally he will think about it. It will be interesting to see where he lands but yeah what coinlocket$ meant up there was Mino Raiola is kinda money minded and he really does take a lot commission and that's why most of the big teams take off their interests off for example- Bayern who once did but they put down their interests after hearing his commission.

Without a proper striker City are finding it difficult to score but I think this might change in second half. I think Guardiola will bring out some changes soon to put more pressure on Chelsea's defense. There has been some chances for City but Kepa did really well , especially the Grealish one which was very close out of all of them.

I think Guardiola might roll out Jesus and Gundogan to turn things soon in second half.

Hmm. Forgot that he will be getting into Serie A so yeah should work well for Juventus then.

Also Chelsea are recalling their players back from loans recently. Emerson was the one which Chelsea tried to call him back, also another player - Kenedy (winger) was called back from loan in Flamengo. Is Thomas Tuchel unhappy with current squad and looking for more options? With that I have little doubt about Loftus Cheek being sent out.

Dortmund doesn't have a solid defence and that is why they have been caught up many times by the opponents. Even if they score early or have one or two goal cushion, it wouldn't be enough. Defending that scoreline is the next part of the plan and that is where Dortmund are not good at. Freiburg on other hand have put a good defensive display this season so far and so I think they wouldn't break that easily before Dortmund.

I am not so confident on Dortmund result on this. Even in earlier match they were caught out by Frankfurt quickly in first half but they made it in time in that match and won that but they are up against a team with quite some form so possible that they might get caught here and chances of that happening is good here. Obviously they will have the home support and they have goalscorer but they are leaking goals at the back so as long as that is there possible that there could be an upset.

Hmm good point. Loftus-Cheek huh? He is good but not that good for Juventus. They need a strong midfielder presence and I don't think at all Loftus-Cheek will give Juventus that. Locatelli is working out well for Juventus and maybe they are looking Loftus-Cheek as backup option?

Not so sure about this one. Brighton is the favourite but Crystal Palace also have good players and they might surprise out Brighton. Lot of players will be out for AFCON but I still Crystal palace has good attacking players like Edouard, Benteke and also for this one Gallagher should be back after recovering from illness. Brighton haven't won against Crystal Palace in last 5 H2H.

Yeah it's true, couple of hours ago Fabrizio tweeted this about Arthur Melo : https://twitter.com/FabrizioRomano/status/1481560148988596226 . Interesting to see lot of big loan moves in this transfer window. Arthur Melo to Arsenal is also reported to be a loan move.

It's Liverpool who are having fair amount of attacking momentum and it's been like that since the start. Xhaka red card was a horrible one and yeah he was in difficult situation there so had to do something and he did something that was rash. Still I wouldn't call Arsenal out of books, Saka and Laca are still out there so kinda have a feeling that they might surprise in second half.

Honestly I think Brentford has a chance here, Saints have been struggling ever since Danny Ings left and there is no proper striker in their team. The best goalscorer they have right now is Prowse or Che Adams. Armando Broja has been performing recently for Saints but needs consistency and he is young as well so lacks experience. Brentford started the league with solid performances and they have good defence and attack. I think it is an even one but I am gonna go with Brentford here.

Yeah the squad they have is pretty dense and Guardiola gives them fair amount of chances so they have decent experience as well. Even till now with 21 games played they have played 2 draws and 2 losses so that's total of 10 point drop. It's very tough for others but might as well give a shot..who knows maybe out of nowhere they drop enough points for others to catch up.

There is a fair amount of possibility that Chelsea might force City to drop some points. Title race is stiff right now and there is not much weeks left given the gap so it is a crucial match where they can pull back the gap between them and City on the table. Tuchel has beaten them in an important match - CL final and now this one is also an important one. BTTS is also a good option Manchester City have been conceding goals lately and the wing backs might create problems for the defence and the keeper.

Xavi is building Barcelona with full of young potential players and give Barca a strong future. Gavi, Pedri, Fati and lot of young players are getting opportunities and I don't think they will let him go yet. However big fee and salary might sway away things but depends how Barca thinks of Gavi like if he is the one of the crucial one to build Barca strong again. IIRC I think that Barca are currently in talks regarding new contract.

This calls for a serious punishment as despite all the rules and protocols in place they allowed him to play and risk other players lives as well. I am sure something will be done about this but since it is new so I think association will take time and decide but I never expected this from a team like Napoli. Were they running out of player due to illness or injuries? but still this doesn't means they have to allow playing a player who was advised to quarantine and put others in danger as well.

Good point that Arsenal are not good at home but I still think Arsenal are gonna win this one. They are in form and in the last match they were difficult to handle in their match against City. Its gonna be tough given Spurs home stats and Arsenal away stats and that's just merely stats and that could change at any point. I am gonna stay with Arsenal win.


City are good at playing possession game and as long as they don't allow Chelsea much room I don't think Chelsea have much chance here. Still Chelsea will be all out as they know if they were to win the title they have to get some points in this match and inch closer to City and Liverpool on the table.