Chelsea-Manchester City Preview
Jose Mourinho and Manuel Pellegrini insist Sunday's high-profile clash at the Etihad will not define the season for either Chelsea or Manchester City.
Yet both managers are quite aware what grabbing the full three points could do for their respective sides as the early frontrunners face off against the reigning Premier League champions.
The Blues (4-0-0) are off to a flying start with the maximum 12 points through their four matches, scoring 15 goals as Diego Costa has already given backlines across England a torrid time with a league-best seven while no other player has more than three.
Still, Mourinho refused to give into the hype of this match in his typical style.
"It's one more game, three more points," he said. "Last weekend Arsenal and City got one point each, nobody got three. These matches in the end can be important, but if you analyse with a simple pragmatic view it's one game, three points, no more than that.
"For the title it's not just City, there are other teams in this race."
Pellegrini also brushed aside giving this match extra weight, noting "this is just the fourth game and we have to play 38," but the Chilean also knows a loss that would drop Manchester City (2-1-1) eight points behind Chelsea would make winning a third title in four seasons all the more difficult.
"I think we were unlucky in the last two games. ... Things happen and we must win our next game at home," Pellegrini told the team's official website. "With that, we will be just two points behind the league leaders and for me, that is a very good start after playing Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea."
Chelsea dismantled previously unbeaten Swansea City 4-1 at Stamford Bridge last Saturday as Costa recorded a hat trick and has scored in all four league matches.
''The team was built in a way where we were waiting for a certain type of striker,'' Mourinho said. ''I think now everybody knows Chelsea did the right thing waiting for him. Chelsea did well by waiting and waiting for the right one.''
The Spain international's effortless jump from La Liga is all the more impressive considering he's not 100 percent healthy. Costa played only the final 16 minutes of Chelsea's 1-1 draw with Schalke 04 to open Champions League play Wednesday as Mourinho guarded against burning out the forward.
"We have to try to protect him until he gets completely fit," the manager said at his press conference Friday. "Diego is not in the best condition but he will start the game."
While much has rightly been made of Costa wielding the goal-scoring hammer, the velvet touch of midfielder and Spanish compatriot Cesc Fabregas has also proven pivotal in the Blues totaling 11 more goals than they did through the first four league matches of last season. Fabregas has a Premier League-best six assists - more than every team except Swansea and Everton - and has formed a devastating attacking trio with Costa and Eden Hazard.
Pellegrini also has been cautiously using his star striker, Sergio Aguero. The Uruguayan, who has a team-leading three goals, made a late appearance in City's 1-0 loss at Bayern Munich on Wednesday and scored a goal in the 2-2 draw at Arsenal before being lifted in the 67th minute.
"He is fresh for Sunday and I'm sure he will make a difference," Pellegrini said of Aguero, who has 10 goals in his last 12 league matches at home. "When he is 100 percent fit, Sergio always makes a difference."
Chelsea swept the two league matches last season, including a 1-0 victory in the corresponding fixture on a first-half goal by Branislav Ivanovic. City gained a measure of revenge with a 2-0 victory in the fifth round of the FA Cup.