Manchester City and Chelsea are fighting for their futures as they battle for Champions League qualification

It will be a crucial battle when Manchester City and Chelsea meet in the Premier League on Saturday. The winner will gain an advantage as the duo are fighting for the same position in the top four. You’d be forgiven for thinking that the spot up for grans between them is the title, they’ve certainly battled it out at the top of the table before. But that’s quite far out of reach for both of these teams this year. They trail Liverpool by 12 and 10 points respectively. No, they’re clawing to secure Champions League soccer next season. 

There was a point where Chelsea were pushing for the title and among the highest scorers in the league, but boss Enzo Maresca repeatedly proclaimed that his side, “are not ready” for a title race. To his credit, he was proved right. Since he made that statement on December 15, Chelsea has only picked up six points in six matches, good for 13th in the table seeing their lead on City for fourth place disintegrate as Pep Guardiola’s men have finally shown signs of life securing 11 points in that time.

Chelsea’s certainly the happier of these two clubs with their performance this season, their expectations coming into the year were much lower, and it can be hard for young sides to maintain a title charge. So, the step back is an understandable one, but now the Blues have to figure out a way to rebound as City charge forward. With fresh reinforcements like €75 million forward Omar Marmoush, City is looking to push up the table and pick up as many points as they can.

One eye will be on their Champions League match hosting Club Brugge on Wednesday, but, if you’re City, you have to assume that you can defeat Brugge even after putting full effort into facing Chelsea. Considering some of City’s uncharacteristic losses this season, it may not be a safe assumption to make, but as soon as they begin to doubt themselves, that’s when mistakes happen.

The City of old are far from what this current squad is, when they’ve sandwiched big wins between disappointing dropped points and that’s what will give Chelsea hope. As a former Guardiola assistant, Maresca will be well equipped to come up with a gameplan in the match and he has former City man Cole Palmer on the pitch to help put it into action. These are quite intertwined clubs but looking to the future, if Chelsea can win this it’s hard to say that they’re not the team better positioned moving forward.

Guardiola may have signed a contract extension through next season, but Champions League soccer is critical to recruitment and balancing the books. Whichever team misses out will be at quite a disadvantage, which is one of many reasons why this is a must win affair. It’ll surely bring fireworks to the Etihad Stadium in the process.  

How to watch and odds

• Date: Saturday, Jan. 25 | Time: x12:30 p.m. ET
• Location: Etihad Stadium — Manchester, England
• Live stream: Peacock
• Odds: Manchester City +105; Draw +300; Chelsea +210