The Blues v/s The Sky Blues: Player Battles

18 Yard Box analyses the players and the battles which they will face on field in the crunch tie between the Chelsea and Manchester City.

Chelsea could not have chosen for a worse time to play the League Champions. Off field controversies followed by the sacking of their manager does not bring good news to their camp. However they have shown this year that when it comes to the on field activities they are still a resilient force. They play a wounded City this Sunday in a game where both teams have a point to prove. 

Some of the key battles in the game, may give an answer as to where this game looks headed for. 18 Yard Box analyses three of them

Gary Cahill V/S Sergio Aguero

Kun Aguero is so cool, composed, passionate and has an awareness about the game that makes him amongst the best forwards in the league if not in the world at the moment. The man has been in a rich vein of goal scoring form and his partnership with Silva has meant that City's dry spell in front of the net soon looks to be over. Gary Cahill has been the quintessential go to man for Chelsea. He has been their most assured defender all throughout the season. The best part about him is his positional sense (Luiz could take a leaf out of his book). Calm and composed, he continues to impress and add to the fact he can chip in with an odd goal or two, his value for the team is immense. Howver his recent performances have been a little wayward and he needs to sort out his mistakes as quickly as possible Cahill may mark Aguero all through the game Sunday but the Argentie, with his clever moment, may slip away once or twice and that is enough to for the City hitman to nestle the ball into the net. For Chelsea to keep Aguero at bay it needs two to tango and David Luiz has to step up to help Cahill with this gigantic task.

Oscar V/S Yaya Toure

The feather weight from Brazil isnt doing too bad in hid first season with the English game  When Chelsea paid tons of money for this guy, a few eyebrows were surely raised. The ones who have not still been convinced about him should see his run against Juventus on Tuesday night, when he left 3 defenders for dead and took the ball close to 60 yards before setting up Eden Hazard to finish which the Belgian could not do. His quick and clever movements in the middle of the park being a freshness to the Chelsea play which has been missing in the last few seasons. His link up play with Hazard and Juan Mata has been superb and their understanding immaculate. He surely will be a man to watch out for. Yaya Toure is simply the one of the best holding midfielders in the world. He is that power house in the midfield who absolutely controls the play like no one else does. He is what drives City forward and provides the shield for the back four too. The 29 year old will just be the man City wlll have to rely on to clog the passes exchanged between the midfield trio of Chelsea. The midfield battle may very well determine who gets the plaudits on Sunday. Toure has the upper hand as he is the experience amongst the two but we can expect some feisty duels between the two.

Fernando Torres V/S Matija Nastasic

The one thing that every headline has accompanied Rafa Benitez's appointment as Chelsea manager is that the career of Torres is about to be revitalized. Fernando Torres is the biggest enigma in world football at this juncture. Once a magnificent striker at Liverpool, incidently under Benitez, has now been reduced to pale shadow of his former self. Can Benitez wake him up from his deep slumber? Chelsea FC will be the biggest beneficiary if it happens. Quick on the ball and an excellent finisher, Torres can be regarded as one of the bests if not for his form. Ever since he joint The Blues he has not looked himself and has come under heavy criticism. This might just be the last chance for him to revive his Chelsea career. Matija Nastasic will be the man to mark the lack lusture Spaniard. Bought in to be as a replacement for Stefan Savic, the defender has done well to fill the shoes of the injured Joleon Lescott. However the availibility of his skipper Kompany is a doubt and he will have the job of leading a make shift back four against the quality of Chelsea's attacks. Should Kompany pass the fitness test he will have help. Torres needs to shape up or be ready to be shipped out. Nastasic will have to stay awake as Torres might be out to prove himself. But will he do it? It seems unlikely

Written By,

Vinay Prabhakar

Vinay is a writer for 18 Yard Box

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