Last season's top two meet in the second game of the new campaign.
Club historian Rick Glanvill and club statistician Paul Dutton look ahead to the Etihad
TALKING POINTS
Two points were dropped at home to Swansea last weekend but the record of defending Premier League champions surviving the first day of the new season unbeaten was preserved, and we remain undefeated in the league at the Bridge since April 2014.
The Blues also still have the best opening weekend record since 1992/93: of the 24 games played the Pensioners have now won 15, drawn six and lost just three; 51 points from a possible 72. The last time Chelsea drew the opening game of the season – 0-0 at Stoke in 2011 – the squad went on to lift the FA Cup and Champions League.
Now the champions, the finest away side of 2014/15, aim to return to winning ways on the road at the Etihad.
Key Stat
The Blues have not lost any of our last 28 Premier League games in the month of August, winning 23 and drawing five. The last team to defeat us was Middlesbrough in 2006.
Thibaut Courtois’ suspension ensures new man Asmir Begovic, our other 6'6" goalie, will start at Manchester City. He has left the field undefeated in five out of nine previous matches against them, including the Potters’ 1-0 victory at the Etihad a year ago this month.
Begovic’s unplanned debut for Chelsea as a substitute for the dismissed Belgian had parallels with his Stoke bow in 2010. In that game, also at Stamford Bridge against Chelsea, the Bosnian faced a penalty nine minutes after replacing the injured Thomas Sorensen.
The referee who sent Courtois off, despite the trajectory of the ball taking it away from Gomis, and with Gary Cahill arriving in position to block a shot, was Michael Oliver. Last season the same man in black booked debutant Diego Costa for diving at Burnley, when he should actually have awarded a penalty for a foul by their goalie and his trailing hand.
The Mancunians have reportedly invested a third more on their squad than Chelsea in terms of buys and sales over the last five seasons. They are also strongly linked with a move for former Blues midfielder Kevin de Bruyne, which might take that margin closer to 60 per cent.
This an early sighting of whether that constitutes value for money these days. Speaking after his side’s prosaic punishment of West Brom, Vincent Kompany certainly expects his teammates to up their game after last season’s tail-off to finish eight points behind the champions
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