{"id":20453,"date":"2026-01-03T04:27:01","date_gmt":"2026-01-03T04:27:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo76e71539\/2026\/01\/03\/pedro-neto-and-santos-to-start-4-2-3-1-chelsea-predicted-lineup-vs-manchester-city\/"},"modified":"2026-01-03T04:27:01","modified_gmt":"2026-01-03T04:27:01","slug":"pedro-neto-and-santos-to-start-4-2-3-1-chelsea-predicted-lineup-vs-manchester-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo76e71539\/2026\/01\/03\/pedro-neto-and-santos-to-start-4-2-3-1-chelsea-predicted-lineup-vs-manchester-city\/","title":{"rendered":"Pedro, Neto And Santos To Start | 4-2-3-1 Chelsea Predicted Lineup Vs Manchester City"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Chelsea will lock horns with Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium this Sunday as they look to earn a good result on the road in the Premier League. The Blues were held to a 2-2 draw by Bournemouth at Stamford Bridge recently, so they would be keen on returning to winning ways this weekend.<\/p>\n

The West London club will set themselves up in a 4-2-3-1 formation and is expected to make a few changes to their first team for this clash. Joao Pedro, Pedro Neto and Andrey Santos could all play from the start of this game.<\/p>\n

Defence<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Robert Sanchez will operate in goal for the London outfit after he shipped in a couple of goals in his last outing. Wesley Fofana will operate alongside Trevoh Chalobah at the centre of the Chelsea<\/a> backline as they look to keep things solid at the back during the 90 minutes.<\/p>\n

Reece James will hope to impress as the right-back, while Malo Gusto hopes to put in a solid display on the other side as the left-back. Both of them will have to pick and choose their moments to join in on the attack.<\/p>\n

Tosin Adarabioyo and Benoit Badiashile will offer cover for the defensive positions on the bench.<\/p>\n

\"Chelsea\"
LONDON, ENGLAND \u2013 DECEMBER 30: Enzo Fernandez of Chelsea controls the ball during the Premier League match between Chelsea and Bournemouth at Stamford Bridge on December 30, 2025 in London, England. (Photo by Warren Little\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Midfield<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Andrey Santos and Enzo Fernandez will anchor the midfield for the Blues as they look to win the 50-50 battles at the centre of the park and orchestrate some decent chances in the final third.<\/p>\n

The gifted trio of Pedro Neto, Cole Palmer and Estevao will play just ahead of them as part of the Chelsea attack. All three of them need to be at their best if the West London giants are to secure a good result this weekend.<\/p>\n

Jamie Gittens and Facundo Buonanotte will be available for selection on the bench as they wait for their opportunity to make an impact in the second 45 minutes if required.<\/p>\n

Attack<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Joao Pedro will spearhead Chelsea\u2019s attack up top. He has to figure out a way to cause some problems for the Man City centre-backs during the 90 minutes.<\/p>\n

Liam Delap will be named on the bench and might come on to influence the game in the latter stages if the Blues are in need of a goal by then.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chelsea will lock horns with Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium this Sunday as they look to earn a good result on the road in the Premier League. The Blues were held to a 2-2 draw by Bournemouth at Stamford Bridge recently, so they would be keen on returning to winning ways this weekend. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12815,"featured_media":20454,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20453","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo76e71539\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20453","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo76e71539\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo76e71539\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo76e71539\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12815"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo76e71539\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20453"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo76e71539\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20453\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo76e71539\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20454"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo76e71539\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20453"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo76e71539\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20453"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo76e71539\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20453"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}