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Tough one to predict as boring Chelsea visit dull City

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"Knowledgeable" Nik Wardle loooks back at Chelsea's relatively cavalier days when the likes of Gudjohnsen and Duff created havoc and how Chelsea have regressed. Saturday they vist the Eastlands. The best bets are...

After retaining their title in 2005/06 and then signing world stars Ballack and Shevchenko, it looked like Chelsea would win the Premier League every season for the foreseeable future. This didn't happen last season and they're likely to need to win all of their remaining games to stand a chance of catching Man United this season, starting at the other Manchester club on Saturday. Not only are Chelsea not topping the table like they used to, they're not entertaining the fans as much either.

One of the most breathtaking Champions League games ever was Chelsea's 4-2 victory at home to Barcelona in 2005. The Blues raced into a three goal lead before Barcelona hit back with a Ronaldinho double, then Terry headed home to win the tie. This was modern Chelsea at their best. They looked dangerous every time they went forward, mainly due to the attacking wing-play of Cole and Duff. This game must have seemed a distant memory to Chelsea fans who watched last Sunday's dull game against Middlesbrough. The Blues were very lucky to win and frankly it was unsurprising to see fans nodding off and also empty seats. Although he still has God-like status with many Chelsea fans, their aesthetic regression began under Mourinho and has been continued by Grant.

When Mourinho added forward Pizarro last summer to a squad that already contained Drogba, Kalou and Shevchenko, it looked like Chelsea may switch to a 4-4-2 formation that would give them greater width and thus attacking threat. He tried it a few times before his departure but still seemed to prefer having an extra central midfielder in the side. Grant too seems to prefer a 4-3-3 or a 4-5-1 or even a 4-2-1-2-1, depending how you see it. The slight shift in Chelsea's formation over the last couple of seasons is to have two defensive midfielders in the side rather than one - Mourinho started this. And it also appears the two wider attacking players have increased responsibility to stop opposing full backs getting forward. A far cry from when Chelsea regularly had five attacking players in their team, like against Barcelona, when they played Lampard, Gudjohnsen, Duff, Cole and Kezman. The wider players were certainly more gung-ho then and it was up to the opposition full backs to worry about them rather than vice-versa. With the players they have available, Chelsea could certainly take more of a leaf out of Man United's book and set themselves up more offensively. Maybe if they did, they wouldn't be five points behind them going into this weekend.

Chelsea are firm favourites to win at Eastlands on Saturday and trade at [1.83] to be victorious with City at [5.4]. If Portsmouth win the FA Cup, another UEFA Cup slot becomes available and despite their poor current form, City are still in the reckoning. It's not too late for one big win to turn things around but this appears unlikely as players such as Corluka and Elano who were excellent in the early months of the season have lost form. Despite buying a few new centre forwards (one of which - Bianchi - has already departed), City haven't fixed their attacking game yet and I expect Sven to target either a partner or an alternative to Benjani in the summer.

What is interesting is that the odds of over 2.5 goals at Eastlands are [2.44] and for over 3.5 goals are [4.8]. For Man United's game at Middlesbrough, the odds are much lower relatively speaking at [2.04] and [3.7] respectively. The lower odds on goals scored in Man United's game are surely a reflection that Betfairians expect goals to happen when they play - it can't be due to Boro as they've only scored twenty-eight goals all season. And the lower odds are despite the fact Boro haven't been conceding many of late and recently drew 1-1 at Arsenal and lost 1-0 to Chelsea last week. Stating the obvious, it's true that Man United have Giggs, Scholes, Rooney, Tevez and, in particular, Ronaldo but Chelsea have Ballack, Lampard, Drogba, Anelka and Cole. On paper you'd expect the two teams to have scored a similar amount of Premier League goals (United have twelve more) but when you see how Chelsea's attacking players are (or are not) utilised, it's not a surprise.

This all leaves Chelsea chasing Man United. Their unbeaten home run continues but they've drawn almost a third of those games this season- had they been braver and won just two of those five, they'd be level with Man United - even if they'd left spaces open at the back and lost the other three and their record. It appears Grant's style of play reflects his personality and it's not only Chelsea fans who hope he's replaced in May.