Chelsea v Man City: Use De Bruyne to boost City price

• Manchester City have dominated Chelsea recently

• The hosts have taken just six points from the last 21

• Kevin De Bruyne can help boost the City price in a Bet Builder play at 2.3611/8

Chelsea still failing to convince

Imagine thinking this time last year that Tuesday night's clash between Arsenal and Newcastle would involve more title contenders than this one.

Manchester City, as ever, are a big part of the equation but Chelsea's hopes of winning the league are non-existent.

The Blues were rocking badly going into the World Cup after three straight top-flight defeats and there were hopes that the break had done them good when they returned to action with a fairly routine 2-0 home win over Bournemouth.

But even then there were murmurings as they allowed the out-of-sorts visitors to dominate possession in the closing stages and the dissent grew louder when they surrendered a 1-0 half-time lead to draw 1-1 with Nottingham Forest at the City Ground on New Year's Day.

With two more points squandered, Chelsea are sinking towards mid-table. In fact, having banked just six points from the last 21 available, their form is more bottom half in nature.

New Chelsea boss Graham Potter had these poor runs at Brighton without any obvious reason why. He got away with it there but the spotlight is on him to a far greater degree at Stamford Bridge.

City have chance to close gap

After blowing victory against Everton, Manchester City risked going 10 points behind Arsenal in the title race had the Gunners managed to see off Newcastle at the Emirates on Tuesday night.

But with Mikel Arteta's men playing out a goalless draw, Pep Guardiola's champions get the chance to reduce the gap to just five with victory in west London.

That stalemate saw Man City shorten to 1.684/6 in the title race. Arsenal are 2.9215/8, with Man Utd in to 3231/1 and Newcastle drifting to 5049/1.

So, with the season still not even at the halfway point, are we just waiting for City to reel the Gunners in? Maybe it's not that simple.

There's a view, and perhaps not an unfair one, that fans and media alike have become so obsessed by Erling Haaland's goal numbers that they've taken their eye off what really counts: points.

Having a striker that scores by the bucketload is only good if it guarantees wins but Haaland has netted in Premier League matches against Newcastle, Aston Villa and Everton that all ended in draws.

Needing Haaland to score twice each time is putting too many eggs in one basket and other players must increase their goal output to keep the Mancunians on track.

Eye-popping odds seem justified

The visitors were always going to be favourites but Chelsea's slide is reflected in the match odds which are an odd mix of extraordinary and easily believable.

Chelsea at 5.79/2 must be the biggest price they've been for a home fixture in living memory although even ardent home fans would probably hesitate before getting involved.

Manchester City trade at 1.684/6 while the impression of this being a title favourite travelling to a team in the lower third of the table is completed by the Draw price of 4.3100/30.

Since Chelsea beat City in the 'Pep overthought it' 2021 Champions League final, the Manchester men have won all three meetings. All those wins have come with clean sheets.

If just focusing on games at Stamford Bridge, all roads point to City again. They've won the last two 1-0 and 3-1.

Extend it further and City have won seven of the last 10 PL encounters while the very latest meeting was a 2-0 win for Guardiola's side in the Carabao Cup just prior to the World Cup: scorers Riyad Mahrez and Julian Alvarez.

City's away form standing up

Man City have dropped five out of six points at home either side of the World Cup break, losing 2-1 to Brentford in a result that doesn't look impossible and drawing 1-1 with Everton in a result that does.

But they won 3-1 at Elland Road in their post-Christmas Day fixture against a Leeds side that managed a 0-0 draw at Newcastle. And prior to that they took all three points at Leicester.

Bottom line: City are an outstanding away team. They've won 18 of their last 25 Premier League road fixtures, losing just one.

De Bruyne can play key role

I expect that away-day streak to continue here although I'll boost the odds to north of Even money by focusing in on Kevin De Bruyne.

The former Chelsea man scored the only goal in the last Premier League game between the pair and also registered in City's 3-1 win at Stamford Bridge two seasons ago.

In addition, he set up two of City's goals in the 3-2 Carabao Cup victory over Liverpool last month and leads the Premier League assists charts this season with nine. No-one else has more than six.

So, we'll go to the Bet Builder and back De Bruyne to Score or Assist in a Man City win at 2.3611/8.

Throwing in a Haaland goal on top of that extends it to 3.412/5. The Haaland first goal version comes out at 7.413/2 and that's worth a small play.

The Norwegian has seven goals in his six away Premier League appearances for Man City and netted twice in a previous visit to London against West Ham.

Opta stat

Manchester City have won their first Premier League game in each of the last 10 calendar years, since a 1-0 loss at Sunderland in 2012.

Their first league game in each of the last two years has come in London (3-1 vs Chelsea in 2021, 2-1 vs Arsenal in 2022).