Manchester City will be hoping to get back to winning ways as they welcome managerless Chelsea to the Etihad Stadium in the Premier League.
Pep Guardiola’s team drew 0-0 with Sunderland in midweek to end their eight game winning streak, and lost Savinho and potentially Nico Gonzalez to injuries picked up during that game.
Chelsea, meanwhile, will be playing their first game since manager Enzo Maresca was sacked on New Year’s Day.
The former City assistant manager and his team’s departure means Under
21’s manager Calum McFarlane will take charge, and his job will be made harder with key player Moises Caicedo suspended for the trip to Manchester.
Here are five things to look out for as City play their first home fixture of 2026:
Does Rodri start if Nico G can’t play?
No questions were asked to Guardiola regarding the fitness of Nico, who was replaced by Rodri at half time after he went down injured partway through the first half.
We know that Savinho will probably be out for a while after Guardiola said his injury didn’t look great, but Nico’s fitness is particularly up in the air considering he wasn’t pictured in training in the buildup to this game.
The obvious candidate to replace the Spaniard with Mateo Kovacic also out injured is Rodri, who has just returned from injury himself.
The 2024 Ballon D’or winner missed almost all of last season with an anterior cruciate ligament injury, and this year has struggled with problems with his hamstring.
But Guardiola insists he’s been building back his fitness over the last few weeks, and came on against Sunderland in the second half to play exceptionally well.
He isn’t likely to be able to start yet, though no other player in the squad can play the role particularly well other than him or Nico.
Guardiola has a bit of a weakness with Rodri; he’s simply so good that he can’t help himself but bring him into the team whenever he’s fit. I think he’ll start if Nico isn’t fit, which could really backfire if he goes off injured.
Palmer looking to score for the first time back at the Etihad
Cole Palmer has been one of the league’s best players since he left City as an untested youth player to join Chelsea in 2023, but there’s one thing he still hasn’t accomplished.
He didn’t have a great 2025 on the whole with poor form and muscle injuries preventing his continuing development, but he sparkled for Chelsea in their UEFA Conference League and FIFA Club World Cup victories.
The 23-year-old still hasn’t scored since coming back to the Etihad, however, and only has one goal overall against the Blues since his departure.
He wasn’t deemed good enough at the time he left and was sold despite only wanting to leave on loan. City made a mistake with him and he’ll be looking to make them pay as always.
Doku coming back in
Along with Rodri, Jeremy Doku made his return from injury on Thursday night.
The Belgian winger had some very good moments, nearly scoring at one point in the second half, but also showed a few signs of rustiness and wasn’t able to help City get a win over the line.
Doku has had a very good season up to this point, making a big step up from his promising first season and average second season in sky blue. I think he deserves to be brought back into the first XI particularly with Savinho out injured, to inject a bit of pace and energy into the side from the left.
Chelsea open in midfield without Caicedo
Caicedo is as important to Chelsea as Rodri is to City, and they’ll miss him dearly.
The Ecuadorian midfielder has accumulated five yellow cards over the course of the season, and is suspended for their trip to the Etihad.
Injury prone former City player Romeo Lavia is also unavailable, so Chelsea will have to force some square pegs into round holes.
Enzo Fernandez is better further up the pitch, and Reece James is one of the best right backs in the league, but they will be the most likely double pivot.
That should leave a fair bit of open space in midfield that can be exploited by Phil Foden and co for City.
Ake starting ahead of O’Reilly
Finally, I think once again we’ll see a change to the regular back four that we’ve seen throughout this season.
Nathan Ake started against Sunderland and had a very good game. He went down having twisted his knee after a few minutes, but got up and played the rest of the game.
He deserves to keep his place in the side, but Josko Gvardiol and Nico O’Reilly have been very good all season too (hence why Ake has had such limited playing time.)
O’Reilly was replaced very early against the Black Cats, and Gvardiol offered more of an attacking threat than him.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see Ake and Gvardiol start along with Matheus Nunes and Ruben Dias in City’s back four, as O’Reilly looked in desperate need of a rest when he was replaced.
