Team news

Duo doubtful for Chelsea clash Mark Hughes has doubts over Craig Bellamy and Stephen Ireland ahead of Manchester City's Premier League encounter with Chelsea at Eastlands.

The pair both picked up knee injuries in Wednesday's Carling Cup win over Arsenal and are rated as extremely doubtful.

Vladimir Weiss, who scored his first senior goal in midweek, is also unlikely to figure after being laid low by tonsillitis but Martin Petrov and Nigel de Jong should be available after missing out on the Arsenal triumph.

Hughes believes Chelsea are England's undisputed number one at present.

The verdict may not go down very well at Manchester United, who Hughes' City team must tackle in an all-Mancunian Carling Cup semi-final next month.

But the Welshman has no doubts. With Carlo Ancelotti's diamond formation in midfield proving to be far more durable than many experts thought before the season began, Chelsea have taken a firm grip of the Premier League.

And, while City look to inflict some damage on the Londoners at Eastlands this weekend, Hughes feels they are firm favourites for the title.

"At this current time Chelsea, without a shadow of a doubt, are the best team in the country," said Hughes.

"Defensively they are rock solid and they have always had a real goalscoring threat.

"But the way they shape up now, with the four guys in midfield, makes them really difficult to break down.

"Even if you get past the shield of the defensive diamond you still have to overcome John Terry and his mates, which is not easy." As Chelsea are on a run of eight straight victories against their fellow blues, the visitors' will start favourites.

However, for all the difficulties Hughes' side have experienced during a run of seven successive Premier League draws, their form in head-to-head combat with the "big four" makes for encouraging reading.

The defeat of Arsenal in Wednesday's Carling Cup tie means City have registered two victories over the Gunners this term. They also established a winning position at Anfield before eventually being forced to settle for a draw against Liverpool.

And few will forget the Michael Owen winner in the sixth minute of stoppage time during a thrilling Manchester derby at Old Trafford in September.

That remains City's only defeat of the campaign, with Hughes seeing encouraging signs from their most recent outing that can be transferred into Premier League combat.

"It is important we continue in the same vein as Wednesday because you have to give yourself a chance to win games," he said.

"If you are not competing defensively you can go under very quickly.

"You must have that defensive platform to allow you to cause the opposition problems. That is what we will strive to do." Ashley Cole is set to return to Chelsea's starting XI.

Cole (hamstring) was missing from Wednesday's Carling Cup loss at Blackburn but will be included in a side that is likely to include several changes from the Blackburn defeat.

Salomon Kalou (thigh), Daniel Sturridge (knee), Alex (hip) and Jose Bosingwa (knee) are all unavailable.

Carlo Ancelotti is a firm believer in the practice of shaking hands with opposing managers - and will do so after Saturday's game.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger stormed down the tunnel following his side's 3-0 defeat in the Carling Cup at the City of Manchester Stadium.

Hughes labelled Wenger "ungracious" and other Premier League managers weighed in with criticism, but a similar scenario seems unlikely tomorrow.

"I think that shaking hands is a normal thing," Ancelotti said.

"Mark Hughes is a very good coach. I know him. For me, it's not a problem to shake hands. You show respect to the other coach. It's normal.

"In Italy, it's not usual to do that at the end, immediately after the game.

"In England we have to do it. I think it's a good thing to maintain calm and the atmosphere.

"I don't know why Wenger didn't shake hands with the other coach. I don't know if it was right or wrong. Every person can do what he wants to do." Ancelotti's side travel to City, who lie seventh, hoping to maintain their five-point lead at the top of the Barclays Premier League.

Both sides are bankrolled by billionaires; Chelsea are owned by Russian Roman Abramovich while City are backed by powerful Arab oil tycoon Sheikh Mansour.

Chelsea have won six major trophies since Abramovich took over and Ancelotti believes the best way for City to do the same is via major investment from their wealthy owner.

Man City vs Chelsea

Last modified 16:21 06/12/09

Pause Play

Left

Right

View thumbnails View full screen Turn captions on/off

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Prev

Next

• Page 1
• Page 2
• Page 3

The euphoria of Manchester City's stunning win over Chelsea was short-lived for Mark Hughes as he challenged his players to build on their deserved triumph.

When City can outplay a team of Chelsea's stature, as they did at Eastlands, it makes all the more baffling their failure to beat the likes of Wigan, Fulham, Birmingham, Burnley and Hull.

A run of seven straight draws in the Premier League had put Hughes under major scrutiny, but his players duly delivered with the victory that has blown the title race wide open.

As much as Hughes tried to play down his side's title credentials, insisting progress was their only goal this season, the reality is that City must now be considered serious contenders.

They have beaten Chelsea and Arsenal, drawn at Liverpool and lost to Manchester United to a 97th-minute goal when their courageous performance at Old Trafford merited a draw.

There is no such thing as an inferiority complex at City under Hughes and, if they can find a way to beat the Premier League's lesser lights, a title push may not be so fanciful.

Their next run of fixtures will determine whether the win over Chelsea was another case of raising their game for the big boys or a springboard to a sustained title challenge.

City's next five games are against Bolton, Spurs, Sunderland, Stoke and Wolves, all winnable fixtures, as Hughes told his players to seize the chance in front of them.

"We've set the standard now and we can't afford to let it slip ever again," said Hughes.

"Hopefully we've now broken that cycle of draws and put that behind us. If that was our bad patch this season then we'll be delighted.

"In terms of the development of the team it's been a really big week because we take belief from the last two games and that will sustain us."

In the space of four days City recorded a second win of the season over Arsenal to reach the Carling Cup semi-finals and followed that up with Chelsea, the biggest scalp of all.

Hughes has spent more than £200million trying to turn City into a major Premier League force, but it was two of his more unheralded signings who inspired the win over Chelsea.

Incredibly, you won't find Shay Given in the top eight goalkeepers in the Opta Index, the statistical database designed to identify the Premier League's best performers.

But Given, an £8m buy from Newcastle, has arguably been one of City's most important signings, as he proved with his 82nd-minute penalty save from Frank Lampard.

Hughes believes Given can do for City what Peter Schmeichel did for local rivals United and establish himself as a goalkeeping legend in the blue half of Manchester.

Having played with Schmeichel for four years at United, Hughes said Given possessed the same aura of invincibility and could be worth 10 to 12 points a season to City.

"Shay is one of the best," said Hughes. "Top keepers will save you games and keep you in games when the team isn't playing particularly well.

"They'll allow you to get back into the game. Once we knew there was a possibility we might be able to bring Shay to the club we had to pursue that.

"I remember the very first save he made for us on his debut was an exceptional one and it won us the game.

"He's continued to do that for us and you half expect him to do what he did for us in saving the penalty."

The City boss was equally effusive about midfielder Nigel De Jong, whose tenacity proved too much for more established names like Frank Lampard, Michael Ballack and Michael Essien.

De Jong was a relative unknown when Hughes paid £14m to sign him from Hamburg, but he is fast emerging as one of the most effective defensive midfielders in the Premier League.

"I thought Nigel was excellent," said Hughes. "I left him out against Arsenal on Wednesday with a view to this game. He has great qualities.

"These are early days in his Premier League career but he's obviously starting to make his mark.

"People didn't know a lot about him when I signed him but he's a proven international and a regular for Holland, who are one of the top teams in Europe."

It says everything about the way City nullified Chelsea that the visitors' goal was a fluke, the ball rebounding off Emmanuel Adebayor's back and over the line after eight minutes.

City showed impressive resolve to put that early setback behind them and equalise through Adebayor's close-tange finish in the 37th minute.

The win was ultimately sealed for City when Petr Cech's woeful positioning allowed Carlos Tevez to thread a 56th-minute free-kick past the Chelsea keeper.

And when Given saved Lampard's spot-kick and City survived an uncharacteristic slapstick finish from Didier Drogba late on, victory was theirs.

Man City: Given 8; Richards 7 (Onuoha 69, 5), Lescott 7, Toure 6, Bridge 6; Wright-Phillips 7, De Jong 8, Barry 7, Robinho 5 (Zabaleta 89); Adebayor 7, Tevez 8

Chelsea: Cech 5; Ivanovic 5, Terry 6, Carvalho 6 (Belletti 64, 5), Cole 7; Ballack 6 (Mikel 64, 5); Essien 7, Lampard 6, Deco 6; Drogba 6, Anelka 5