Premier League Big Match Focus: How to back a 12/1 bet builder in Chelsea v Man City

• Chelsea winless in six

• City adrift of league leaders but expected to win

• Sterling facing former club and is 4/1 to score

• 12/1 Bet Builder shout below

After dropping points at the weekend, Manchester City will know there's even less margin for error in their pursuit of the league title.

Pep Guardiola's side won each of the last two Premier League titles, but dropped seven points below leaders Arsenal after they drew at home to Everton and the Gunners won at Brighton. Next up for them is a Chelsea side who have the squad to cause them problems but have issues of their own.

Graham Potter's team are also coming into the game off the back of a 1-1 draw, having failed to hold on for all three points at Nottingham Forest on Sunday. They're 11 points adrift of City and seven below the Champions League spots, but will hope to stop the reigning champions in their tracks.

Pep turning a corner

Pep Guardiola has lost eight times against Chelsea, and hasn't lost more against any other club.

This includes his spell in charge of Barcelona, when he suffered a painful Champions League semi-final defeat in 2012, though his one meeting with the Blues as Bayern Munich boss ended in a Super Cup victory on penalties the following year.

The most recent of the Catalan's defeats might be the hardest to take, having come in the 2021 Champions League final. Since then, though, City have beaten Chelsea three times in a row without conceding a single goal.

You only have to go back to November for the last of those meetings, with goals from Riyad Mahrez and Júlian Alvarez giving City victory in the League Cup. That was the first time Chelsea manager Graham Potter was in the dugout for this fixture, and he'll hope to improve on that result.

Sterling facing old friends

Raheem Sterling got a cameo from the bench in that cup game, marking a first return to the Etihad Stadium since his £50m summer move. The England international scored 91 times in 225 appearances for City, helping them win several league titles.

Since moving to west London, Sterling has scored six times in 21 appearances. He started just as slowly last season, with five in his first 21 City games in all competitions, but went on to finish the campaign with 17 goals.

Sterling's goal tally pales in comparison to one of the men who has helped replace him in the north-west. Erling Haaland has more goals in his six away games than his rival does in those 21 club outings, while his 21 league goals represent the highest tally for a City player since Sergio Agüero scored the same number in 2018-19.

Can history repeat itself?

At the tail end of the 2021-22 season, Manchester City won three away league games in a row, with the second coming against Leeds. They haven't won three in a row on the road since, but the 3-1 win at Leeds on December 28 set up the chance for them to repeat the trick.

Something will have to give, though. City have lost just one of their last 25 on their travels while Chelsea have lost only one of their last 11 at home in the Premier League since losing back-to-back derbies against Brentford and Arsenal in April.

Mikel Arteta's Gunners also claimed victory at Stamford Bridge this season, and the former Manchester City assistant also achieved something no manager had done since September 2021 by shutting out the Blues.

The last man to do that? You guessed it - Pep Guardiola, in a 1-0 win.

Chelsea v Manchester City prediction

City haven't been in the best of form of late, and their fans may well be worried by the return of just four points from the last three league games. Guardiola's teams often thrive under pressure in the league, though, and last season's title came thanks in part to a run of 12 successive wins in the middle of the season.

Chelsea have looked similarly aimless after a fast start under Potter, earning nine points in the former Brighton manager's first three games but failing to win any of the six since. A fourth league defeat in five is very much a possibility for the home side, and that could increase the pressure on the man in the dugout.

12/1 Bet Builder

If a Bet Builder is what you're after, our eyes are drawn to the man facing his former club. Raheem Sterling to score at any time, but with City to win, is available at 12.75.