The Blues return to Premier League action on Sunday when they take on league leaders Manchester City at Stamford Bridge.

Manchester City are on a six-game winning streak against Chelsea in all competitions, with the West London side failing to score in each of those defeats. This also includes four consecutive 1-0 wins in the Premier League. 

This basically means that Chelsea are yet to score against Manchester City since Kai Havertz’s strike in the 2021 Champions League final in Lisbon.

The Blues were involved in an eventful London derby on Monday night but they never looked convincing enough against a nine-man Tottenham Hotspur, despite the 4-1 victory in the end.

Still, the win over his ex-club catapulted Mauricio Pochettino's side into the top half of the table as Chelsea currently sit 10^th, three points behind Brighton in 8^th place. 

With that victory in North London, Chelsea avoided losing back-to-back matches to Tottenham for the first time since November 2018. 

Chelsea already entered a challenging period as they are set to play Manchester City (home), Newcastle (away), Brighton (home), Manchester United (away) before they travel to face Everton on December 10^th. 

With that said, Chelsea will have a much more acceptable schedule from mid-December but they must somehow survive the tough run of games they have over the next few weeks. 

Mauricio Pochettino's side suffered a disappointing 2-0 home loss to Brentford a fortnight ago and it was their third straight defeat to the Bees at Stamford Bridge. 

The Blues returned to winning ways with a comfortable 2-0 win over Championship side Blackburn in the League Cup last Wednesday. Goals from Benoît Badiashile and Raheem Sterling were enough to secure a two-goal advantage, which Jon Dahl Tomasson's side failed to challenge.  

Against Blackburn, Reece James made his first start since the opening day draw against Liverpool and the England right-back now hopes to start Sunday's clash against Manchester City. If the Chelsea captain is not fully fit to start, Malo Gusto should be the preferred option to pose City's left side some issues.

Badiashile, who made his first appearance of the season, will hope to once again partner Axel Disasi at centre-back which might see Levi Colwill take Marc Cucurella's spot at left-back. Colwill is defensively more sound than Cucurella and Pochettino may favor that approach against Manchester City, despite the Spaniard's good form.

However, we strongly doubt that Badiashile will get the nod over influential defender Thiago Silva at this point, but a tactical switch could be on the table for Chelsea. Pochettino could still opt for a 3-4-2-1 system. 

Mykhailo Mudryk was absent from the matchday squad to face Brentford two weeks ago and he didn't feature in the squad that beat Blackburn last week. It was later confirmed by the club that the 22-year-old Ukrainian recovered from a minor knock and resumed full training last Friday as he was introduced as a second-half substitute at Tottenham.

Meanwhile, Christopher Nkunku is still yet to play a competitive game for The West London side following his transfer from RB Leipzig in the summer. The 25-year-old French international was dealt a major blow to his knee during a pre-season friendly against Borussia Dortmund.

Nkunku has taken his recovery programme to the next level and Mauricio Pochettino has hinted that he could return to action after this month's international break. 

Elsewhere, Wesley Fofana remains a long-term absentee for Chelsea, with left-back Ben Chilwell and summer signing Romeo Lavia also not expected to return until December, while the likes of Trevoh Chalobah, Carney Chukwuemeka and Armando Broja are all doubts. 

Nicolas Jackson should keep his starting spot up front as the Senegalese forward bagged a winning hat-trick against Tottenham last time out.

Pep Guardiola's men are on a five game-winning streak in all competitions since the 1-0 loss at Arsenal just before the October international break. This run includes a 3-0 victory over arch rivals Manchester United at Old Trafford two weeks ago. 

Now, the Citizens will be looking to head into the final international break of the year knowing that a win would see them keeping a three-point lead over title contenders Arsenal and Liverpool (should they beat Brentford earlier on Sunday). 

Meanwhile, Manchester City enjoyed a comfortable 3-0 victory over Swiss champions Young Boys in midweek to secure their Champions League last-16 spot.

All in all, Manchester City haven’t been that great away from the Etihad but in our opinion, they still have enough quality to overcome Mauricio Pochettino’s Chelsea just before the international break.

It's never easy to predict Pep Guardiola's formation and tactics (Fantasy Football players will feel us), but it seems that Erling Haaland is fine, even though the Norwegian forward was subbed off at the break of the 6-1 victory over Bournemouth last weekend. 

Yet, Haaland started against Young Boys on Tuesday night and he scored a brace to make it four goals in as many Champions League group games this term. The Norwegian also boasts 11 goals in 11 Premier League games and will be eager to score his first goal against Chelsea. 

Manuel Akanji, Rodri, Bernardo Silva and Julian Alvarez were all unused substitutes, while Nathan Ake, Kalvin Phillips and Jeremy Doku were all introduced in the second half against Young Boys on Tuesday night. The Manchester City boss will most likely be tempted to make some changes against Chelsea, but as mentioned above - "It's never easy to predict Pep Guardiola's formation". 

John Stones suffered another injury setback and the versatile England international joins long-term absentees Sergio Gomez and Kevin De Bryune on the sidelines.

A huge 12 points separates the two clubs in the table, with Manchester City heading into the clash on the back of a 3-0 Champions League victory over Young Boys on Tuesday night, while Chelsea were not involved in European action.

In Chelsea, Manchester City face a challenge that may be far tougher than the matchup suggests when looking at it on paper. Yet, Pep Guardiola's side look more coherent at the moment and they should extend their winning streak against an inconsistent Chelsea side.