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League leaders Chelsea make a trip to the ‘City of Manchester Stadium' in the BLUE half of Manchester this weekend. The face off between the two richest clubs of the world's richest football league is one to ink in your appointment diaries, for it promises to be an engaging encounter. Manchester City have failed to live up to expectations despite their spending spree in the summer, wherein, the club spent a mind boggling £100 million plus to match their more illustrious neighbours, United. The short route to success has however turned out to a wrong detour, as they find themselves 8th in the league, out of the European places. Chelsea, on the other hand are showing some inspiring and intimidating form and lie pretty at t he top, 5 points clear of nearest rival Manchester United.

MANCHESTER CITY
City are unbeaten in 10 games coming into this one, but have been victorious in only 3 of those. Stalemates with minnows like Birmingham, Burnley and Hull have scarred an otherwise positive season for the multi-starrer City side. They are on a horrendous run of draws, seven on the trot in the league. Their inability to kill off their opponents has hampered their steady progress towards the top. Mark Hughes could do a huge favour to former boss and mentor Sir Alex, if his side comes out of this game victorious. City are undefeated at home and would be desperately hoping that it stays that way at the final whistle.

CHELSEA
Chelsea have looked a formidable outfit under Italian coach Carlo Ancelloti. The former Milan boss has infused confidence and team spirit in the side. The side's unity was often questioned under former managers during the previous season, but all looks well at Stamford Bridge now. Chelsea are on a 5 game winning run in the league and boast of having beaten all other members of the BIG FOUR this season. They also have the unique distinction of being the best attack and defence in the league, scoring 36 and conceding only 8. With United playing earlier in the day, Ancelloti would know exactly how to rally his troops for this battle of the blues. Whatever be the result at Upton Park, a gain of 3 points from this encounter would be the only thing on the shrewd Italian's mind.

HISTORY SHOWS AND NEVER LIES
City fans should understandably turn away, for history doesn't support their cause. In each of the last five encounters between the two sides, Chelsea have reigned supreme, scoring 13 in the bargain and conceding just one. 16th October 2004 was the last time City beat Chelsea, almost five seasons ago.

The last time these two sides met was at Stamford Bridge in March, with a Michael Essien goal proving to be the decider.

MANAGER NOTES
Ancelloti has his work cut out this weekend as he faces a City side that has world class players upfront. Jose Bosingwa is out for Chelsea till the end of the year owing to a knee injury, while both Ashley Cole and Alex are big doubts for the clash, due to thigh strains. Ancelloti's back 4 would have to be carefully put into place to counter the attacking flair of City's multi-million pound strike force.

Both wide men Shaun Wright-Phillips and Bulgarian Martin Petrov are doubts for this one, with the latter's knee injury keeping him off the pitch for large parts of the season so far. This raises the question as to who would supply Hughes's gifted strikers. Those two are however his only injury concerns, as Hughes has an otherwise injury free squad to choose from.

Chelsea were kicked out of the Carling Cup at the hands of Blackburn Rovers on Wednesday night, where they lost 3-4 on penalties, after regulation and extra time couldn't separate the two sides. The score line showed 3-3 at the end of extra time and the match ended tragically for Chelsea when Paul Robinson saved spot kicks from Ballack and wonder boy Gael Kakuta. This was the first real blot on a brilliant start to Ancelloti's reign at Stamford Bridge.

Manchester City, on the other hand made it to the semi-finals of the Carling Cup, thrashing an under strength Arsenal 3-0 to set up a clash against local rivals Manchester United. Goals from Tevez, Wright-Phillips and Slovak youngster Vladimir Weiss ensured City's smooth passage into the semi-finals, inching them closer to their first tier 1 trophy in over three decades.

FORM GUIDE

MANCHESTER CITY (W-1, D-4, L-0)
Premier League, D, Birmingham City 0 - 0 Manchester City
Premier League, D, Manchester City 3 - 3 Burnley
Premier League, D, Liverpool 2 - 2 Manchester City
Premier League, D, Manchester City 1 - 1 Hull City
League Cup, W, Manchester City 3 - 0 Arsenal

CHELSEA (W - 4, D - 0, L - 1)
Premier League, W, Chelsea 1 - 0 Manchester United
Premier League, W, Chelsea 4 - 0 Wolverhampton Wanderers
UEFA Champions, W, Porto 0 - 1 Chelsea
Premier League, W, Arsenal 0 - 3 Chelsea
League Cup, L, Blackburn Rovers 3 - 3 Chelsea

PROBABLE LINE UPS

Manchester City: Given, Toure, Lescott, Richards, Bridge, Ireland, De Jong, Barry, Bellamy, Tevez, Adebayor
Chelsea: Cech, Ferreira, Terry, Carvalho, Ivanovic, Essien, Lampard, Deco, Drogba, Anelka

THE DECIDING FACTOR: Key battles on the pitch

John Terry vs. Emmanuel Adebayor: The tall Togolese striker could just make the difference in this clash of heavyweights. Terry has his work cut out as leading the Chelsea side is just one of the many arduous tasks, he needs to perform perfectly on Saturday evening. The aerial prowess of both players will be heavily tested on Saturday as City will rely on their set pieces to cut open the Chelsea wall.

Kolo Toure vs. Didier Drogba: The two Ivorians would be hell bent to muscle each other out of the game . Ivory Coast all time leading scorer Drogba has great strength, ball control and pace which would make Toure ideal to tackle the Ivorian engine as he would look to trample upon all in his path. The battle between the two is one to look out for on the pitch once the ball gets rolling.

Prediction: Victory for Chelsea, 1 - 2.

File Photograph copyright: Ryu Voelkel