Will Guardiola Sacrifice Mahrez Ahead of the Sky Blues Clash With Chelsea?

Manchester City’s coach Pep Guardiola is expected to make changes to his team after the 1-1 draw against Everton in the last round, which left Man City far from the top spot in the title race with the leader Arsenal, the British newspaper Manchester Evening Standard published.

Manchester City will face Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Thursday for the 19th-week matches of the English Premier League.

The newspaper added that Phil Foden could return to the starting line-up against Chelsea, so the duo, Riyad Mahrez and Jack Grealish were in danger of being absent from participation since the start of the match.

Despite his lack of participation during the first half of the current season, Mahrez played mainly with Manchester City in the past three matches, where he participated against Liverpool in the English League Cup (the Carabao/EFL cup), and played against Leeds United and Everton in the English Premier League, scored a goal and made an assist.

Portuguese Joao Cancelo will also return to participation after sitting on the bench against Everton, and Argentine Julian Alvarez’s return strengthened the Sky Blues ranks after returning to training following the long rest after the 2022 World Cup victory with his national team Argentina.

On the London trip, Manchester City loses the services of the Portuguese central defender Ruben Dias due to a hamstring injury, while suspicions arise about the participation of Aymeric Laporte due to injury, but he is nonetheless on the expected list of the Citizens who will play against Chelsea.

It was a disappointing end to 2022 for Manchester City but it’s not all doom and gloom.

Manchester City was held to a draw with lowly Everton on New Year’s Eve as their lackadaisical defending late on gave Demarai Gray all the time he needed to bend a cracking shot into the far corner. The result could prove to be a costly one.

A win at Goodison Park was needed as Pep Guardiola’s side won’t be sliding easily into 2023. Chelsea, Manchester United and Tottenham are the next three fixtures in the Premier League as well as then facing Chelsea in the FA Cup and a Carabao Cup quarter-final and potentially semi-final to deal with.

That’s an incredibly taxing and difficult run of games and the draw in Merseyside has only added to the pressure. It means the gap between themselves and table-toppers Arsenal now sits at seven. By no means an unassailable gap but the Gunners will have to slow down for City to catch them. There have been no signs of that yet.

But a reason to be cheerful is the revival of Riyad Mahrez. In a game lacking in magic from City, it was his weaving run into the box as he left defenders in knots and pass to Erling Haaland that set up the goal. Riyad Mahrez seems to be returning to form.