Returning from Lyon, Manchester City will face what could be their most crucial game in the league.

Away to Chelsea.

It's a matchup between first and second in the league.

Because in the last round of the league, Manchester City drew with Liverpool at home and played 0:0. Chelsea, meanwhile, beat Wolverhampton Wanderers 2-0 away at Chelsea, so the gap between the two teams was reduced to one point.

In such a situation, this direct dialogue is very important.

If Chelsea can beat Manchester City at home, they will be two points clear of Manchester City and sit on top of the league table.

And if Manchester City beat Chelsea on the road, they will reopen the gap on Chelsea.

So it's a game with six points at stake.

With 10 league games remaining, a four-point lead over Chelsea undoubtedly gives Manchester City an early start in the race for the league title.

This game is so important that both sides of the game take it very seriously.

Despite Chelsea's Champions League knockout tie in midweek, Carlo Ancelotti has no intention of maintaining his strength in this league campaign. Judging by the starting line-up and squad announced by Chelsea before the game, Chelsea made the best of their ability to field all the best players they could.

You must know that in the Champions League quarter-finals in midweek, Chelsea will face Inter Milan away.

It was also a very difficult game to play.

Jose Mourinho's Inter Milan are back against their old club and there is plenty to tell.

Manchester City were a bit more relaxed, having already played Champions League games and won them relatively comfortably, and Lyon didn't cause much trouble for City after the glorious goal.

In this game, Benitez made substitutions from the beginning of the 60 minutes, using up all three substitutions to give the main players more time to rest. He's been preparing for this tournament since then.

The good news for Manchester City is that the heart of their midfield, Sneijder, is back from injury ahead of this game.

You must know that in the Champions League knockout match against Lyon just three days ago, Sneijder did not even make the squad.

And the return before the game against Chelsea has made many Manchester City fans breathe a sigh of relief.

In the front line, Manchester City has glory, and in the midfield, Sneijder has the tacit understanding of the two, which is also an important reason for Manchester City's excellent performance this season.

Sneijder controls City's attacking tempo and direction, while Glory is an excellent finisher while also providing nanny assists to his team-mates.

The two of them are key to the smooth operation of the attack throughout Manchester City.

Sneijder's return has emboldened Manchester City to challenge Chelsea away.

※※※

"There have been two outstanding Blues this season, one is Manchester City, who have continued their excellent form in the second half of last season, losing just one game and sitting in the top spot. The other is Chelsea, who have just changed managers in the summer, and under Carlo Ancelotti, Chelsea have become City's biggest enemies in the league. Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal have not been as good as they could have been this season, and just when everyone thought Manchester City were going to be on top, Chelsea stepped up and made this season's league title still ...... to watch."

Before the start of the match, commentator John Mortensen, who was already in place, was chatting with Alan Hansen about the high-profile matchup.

'Yes, a lot of people want Chelsea to play the role of stopping Manchester City, because only Chelsea have a chance right now. It's not that we don't want City to win the title, but if City do win it, then we want it to be a little bit more twisty...... Why is the Premier League the best league in the world? Just because our competition is fierce! ”

Alan Hansen said.

Manchester City fans in front of the TV were scolding the two men.

They don't want the twists and turns of winning the title, and it's better to be able to secure the league title a few rounds earlier. As Manchester City fans, they have waited too long for this league title.

City's last top-flight title was 42 years ago in 1968, when they were the only two top-flight titles in their history. With that league title as a milestone, Manchester City went on to create one of the most glorious periods in the club's history.

They won the FA Cup the year after they won the league. A year later, City won the European Cup Winners' Cup and League Cup in a season.

It's also City's most glorious past since its inception.

But now, under the leadership of Zai Rongguang, Sneijder, David Silva, Dimitar Berbatov, Benitez and others, Manchester City fans have reason to expect even more.

So now when they hear that someone wants their championship manager to be more tortuous, they want to scold their mother.

Isn't our championship experience tortuous enough?

Isn't forty-two years of waiting tortuous enough?

Isn't ten league changes between 1983 and 2002 tortuous enough?

Now, let's not have any twists and turns! We want champions!

However, John Morteson and Alan Hansen were somewhat wronged because the views they presented were only those that are generally popular in the media today.

That is to hope that the league championship is not decided so early, otherwise it will be too boring.

As neutrals, they naturally want to see a last-minute injury time in the final round of the league to decide the title.

But for Manchester City fans, it's a huge torture for their hearts.

If I had a choice, I am afraid that no one would choose such an experience. But they can't choose, so it's only after this kind of thing that they say, "This is the ...... of football"

※※※

The first high point of the game came when the players from both sides came on the pitch, with the Chelsea players playing at home receiving a tsunami of cheers.

Chelsea fans didn't boo the City players, but they were the same. Such cheers can also put pressure on City's players.

Players from both sides come out, line up, and shake hands with each other.

When Ballack shook Glory's hand, he said to Glory: "I won't give you the league championship." ”

Rong Guang smiled: "But we are the first now, and you are the runners." ”

Barak rolled his eyes.

Rongguang is not wrong to say this, they are now second, so there is no question of whether to give in or not. Only when you get what you have in your hands can you have the qualifications to choose whether to give it or not.

"See you in the game!" Barak patted the glory.

※※※

When Glory won the right to pick the edge, the players of both sides quickly took their positions and the game was about to begin.

The televised footage gave a round of close-ups of several key players from both sides.

Manchester City's side is naturally glory and Sneijder.

Sneijder, in particular, has just returned from injury and his form is a question.

Some media even thought that Benitez was in a bit of a hurry, and Sneijder couldn't even make the squad three days ago, so he started this game.

So how is Sneijder's injury recovery, and is he really capable of performing well in such an important game?

You know, this game can be different from other games. Chelsea will never give too much space and time to the Manchester City players, they will move more at home, and the referee will definitely not be able to control their actions in a different way than in away games.

As the heart of Manchester City's midfield, Sneijder will inevitably be taken care of by Chelsea players during the game.

Whether Sneijder, who has just returned from injury, will have a shadow over the intense physical confrontation will also affect his performance in this matchup.

There are also media outlets who believe that letting Sneijder return to the firing line also shows how seriously Benitez takes this game and worries about Chelsea.

Against a team that is aiming to win the title, or at their home turf, even a team like Manchester City feels a lot of pressure and threat!

※※※

Amid the deafening cheers and singing of the Chelsea fans, Drogba knocked the ball out. The competition is officially on!

From the start of the game, as everyone thought, Chelsea played very aggressively at home, taking advantage of the home game to launch a fierce attack on Manchester City's goal.

There was no temptation, no manoeuvre, and Chelsea got into the game very quickly.

It can be seen that Ancelotti has really prepared very well for this game.

In the face of Chelsea's fierce attack, Liverpool have opted for a very safe and sensible tactic on the road, and this is also their style of play, which is to defend and counter-attack.

Manchester City's formation looks like a 4231, with Matuidi and Gareth Barry as the "2" in midfield, and Glory, Sneijder and David Silva as "3", but in practice, Glory is more like a free man up front, he does not have a clear fixed position, he can be free to appear in the middle, right and wing of the field.

And when he appears in these places, the people in the corresponding positions have to give way to him.

At the same time, he has no defensive tasks yet, and can let go of his hands in the game and use his terrifying attack power to the extreme.

Defensively, Sneijder and David Silva, and even Dimitar Berbatov had to drop back to defend and when they withdrew, the man at the front became a glory.

However, with Glory's super personal ability, he can cause trouble in the opponent's rear direction without support.

As long as Manchester City don't concede goals behind him, with the ability of glory, he will score sooner or later.

That's basically how City's tactics are, relying on a tight team defence to ensure that they don't concede a goal, and then relying on the cooperation of a few people or the individual ability of one person to score the goal in the front.

Any team playing against Manchester City, everyone knows that the key to victory is to score first, not to give Manchester City the lead.

The few games that Manchester City have drawn and lost this season have basically been goals conceded first.

So it makes sense for Chelsea to attack from the start of this game.

But how long will it take for a forward line consisting of Didier Drogba and Nicola Anelka to break through this Manchester City defence?