[Aron Nora]

This next matchweek may very well prove to be a vital one in the context of the season and who clinches the title.

The first fixture being the obvious one, as two title challengers face off each other- Chelsea, and Manchester City. Chelsea are playing home at Stamford Bridge and are buzzing after a bright start to their season with summer signing Romelu Lukaku amongst the goals settling nicely. 

City are also up and running after an uncharacteristically drab display in their opening fixture away to Tottenham. Will Pep be able to conjure up a game plan to outsmart Tuchel, who seems to be the best pure football manager in club football right now?

I'm a new user here, so please shed some light on how you feel about this?

[MapleLeafMarco]

I think the Chelsea v City game this weekend would be a pretty good indication of how the title race is going to go down. I feel like Chelsea are going to run away with the title, the fact that they managed to hold Liverpool to a draw with 10 men shows how strong they are. The bench strength is there too so they're covered if anyone picks up an injury for the most part

[MisterButter]

Chelsea is strong, either is Man. city.. but im prestty sure it will be draw (like chelsea vs liverpool)

[Aron Nora]

Yeah Marco, I do feel that Chelsea are the favourites. My money is entirely on the Blues to clinch the title. The only way that their season could get derailed is if Lukaku gets injured somehow. If that were to happen, that would be a devastating blow for Chelsea. 

Yes, they have an incredible bench, but they only really have one player who would be able to replace him - Werner. But there's a huge problem with Werner and his finishing. He is a great liability in front of the goal.


What are your thoughts on the North London Derby taking place the day after?

---

Hey MisterButter, I feel pretty inclined to say that Chelsea will win this match. The reasons being that I think Tuchel has devised proper strategies to beat City. I am a huge admirer of his philosophy of playng and think he is the smartest manager out there in club football.

Also, Chelsea has absolute firepower waiting on their bench to be brought on at any point of the game which have been known to make a difference in their games.

[MapleLeafMarco]

Arsenal and Tottenham are in a weird position atm. Tottenham aren't actually doing as well as their place suggests when you look at stuff like open play goals. I would've leant towards Tottenham a few games ago but Arsenal seemed to have built a bit of momentum so it's a toss up for me. I'm interested to see how Arsenal get on this season and whether Arteta will get sacked. I don't support them but as much as people meme on Arsenal (and boy the memes are funny haha) I do actually like how the grassroot feel of the club and how they've brought players up with a good academy instead of just money

[michelll888]

Man City making a statement right now winning at Stamford Bridge. I expected much better from Chelsea in this game...

[longjohnschlong]

Honestly, I went off football when I became a grizzled socialist. Too much histrionics, too much money wasted and I'm not a fan of celebrity culture. Plus the players are all media trained to shit. There's no such thing as a character in the game anymore. It's just 'uh, ye, was nice to score the goal but the 3 points was the most important thing'. it's like, why even interview them anymore?

[MapleLeafMarco]

I do feel like the theatrics (diving etc.) is offputting and wish more was done to combat it. I think a step in the right direction would be to handle refs the same way rugby does where they're mic'd up and players have to respect them or risk more cards. I actually quite like the idea of a sin bin like yellow card too. I seemed to lose interest a while ago and then seemed to get interested again a few years ago around the time Leicester won the league.

An interesting day of football I thought - City winning their game, United losing and I just saw the Liverpool Brentford game which was really entertaining