Good afternoon and welcome to Sports Mole's live text coverage of the Premier League clash between Chelsea and Manchester City at Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea come into this match having lost two of their last three league games, which has opened up a 10-point gap between themselves and today's opponents.
City, meanwhile, were knocked off top spot by Liverpool's win over Bournemouth earlier today but would restore their place at the summit if they avoid defeat in this match.
Make sure you don't miss a moment of the action courtesy of our minute-by-minute updates below.
City come into this match in the unfamiliar position of being in second place following Liverpool's win earlier in the day, and need a victory in this difficult fixture to restore their two-point lead at the top today. Chelsea are in growing need of a win themselves, though, with the top-four race really hotting up now too.
We will have a close look at both teams in a short while, but first let's check out the team news...
Well, both have made interesting decisions regarding their strikers, but let's start with the home side who look like playing Pedro through the middle today.
Morata was expected to lose his place in the team after another unconvincing performance in midweek, but it was Giroud who was considered most likely to replace him. Instead, though, Sarri goes with Pedro alongside Hazard and Willian in that front three.
There are many who would rank Hazard as the best player in the league - ahead of any of the players he will come up against today - but for all of his talent, his goalscoring return has been quite modest down the years when you compare him to the likes of Raheem Sterling or Liverpool's Mohamed Salah.
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The midfielder was Chelsea's best player at Molineux and opened the scoring to continue what has been an impressive run in front of goal when he has had chances, but he is replaced by Mateo Kovacic for this one.
Stopping the deep-lying playmaker is key to stopping Chelsea, so he will need to find a way to counteract the attention he is sure to get today. David Luiz is the final change from the home side as Andreas Christensen drops back to the bench.
Aguero is still sidelined for a third successive match due to a muscle problem, so Sterling will lead the line in his place. Pep Guardiola had been posed with the enviable dilemma of who to drop from his in-form winger trio of Sane, Mahrez and Sterling, and so instead he has decided to start them all.
It is something he will look to improve on what is his 24th birthday today, but he has failed to score and provided just one assist in nine league appearances against the Blues - a far cry from his tally of eight goals and six assists from 13 league games this season.
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Indeed, Sane has not failed to either score or assist a goal in any of his eight Premier League starts this season, contributing to 11 goals in total by netting six of his own and creating a further five.
Indeed, the introductions of Laporte and Sterling are the only two changes made by Guardiola from the midweek win over Watford, with Stones retaining his place at the heart of the defence and Delph continuing on the left with Zinchenko and Mendy injured.
Chelsea were right in that title mix themselves less than a month ago, but a recent dip in form has highlighted how relentless the pace is which is being set by those top two so far this season.
However, the Blues have now lost two of their last three games and that has suddenly opened up a 10-point gap to City and an 11-point gap to Liverpool after their win over Bournemouth earlier.
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Beyond that too, anything other than a win would surely extinguish any lingering title hopes too, while defeat would leave them 13 points adrift of the champions after only 16 games.
Prior to today, only Man City and Arsenal had scored more goals than Chelsea and only Liverpool and Man City had conceded fewer, so Chelsea are clearly doing something right - even if Sarri insists that they still have plenty to improve.
Wolves had picked up just one point from their previous six league games and went into the match off the back of successive defeats to Huddersfield and Cardiff, but they came from behind to pick up a 2-1 win at Molineux.
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Indeed, Chelsea as a team are unbeaten in 15 home games stretching back eight months, while they have kept clean sheets in their last three outings here at Stamford Bridge - a record which they will do well to keep today.
Sarri has also not lost two successive Premier League games - home or away - since October 2016, when his Napoli side were beaten by Atalanta and Roma in Serie A.
However, the competition this season has been much more stubborn and Guardiola's side go into this game in the unfamiliar position of sitting second in the table. Liverpool sent out a statement with their win over Bournemouth earlier, and now it is up to City to respond.
Guardiola's side have made the second-best start to a season in Premier League history - behind only last year's eventual centurions - having picked up 41 points from a possible 45 over their opening 15 games of the season, winning 13 and drawing two.
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As mentioned, though, the major difference this time around has been the level of competition; this time last season City were eight points clear at the top of the table, but after 15 games their lead was only two points prior to today's earlier games.
The most recent of those came on Tuesday night, although it was not as emphatic a win as we are used to seeing from Guardiola's side as they survived a late scare to beat Watford 2-1 - albeit having dominated the vast majority of the match before the Hornets pulled a goal back.
All of their dropped points this season have come on the road, but any hope Chelsea might gain from that statistic should be counterbalanced by the fact that they have not been beaten on the road since January.
However, this City side looks well equipped to break that duck and today could become the first non-London club to win seven successive top-flight matches in the capital. The only previous club to match their current run of six was Portsmouth from December 1950 to December 1951.
Chelsea, for their part, have only managed half as many points, but they will be hoping that their home advantage gives them an extra edge in what is sure to be a very difficult match today.
This really is a difficult one to call. It is hard to back against Man City in any game at the moment, but they haven't been at their very best in the last three games whereas Chelsea are strong at home under Sarri. City, of course, have the ability to win this game, but we're going for a score draw.
SPORTS MOLE SAYS: Chelsea 2-2 Man City
Former Chelsea player Kevin De Bruyne got the only goal of the game on that occasion, with City also going on to win 1-0 at the Etihad Stadium to complete the double over Antonio Conte's side.
Sergio Aguero scored twice for City in the Community Shield as Sarri lost his first game at the Chelsea helm, and the champions could now win four successive matches against the Blues for the first time in their history.
CHELSEA STARTING XI: Kepa; Azpilicueta, Rudiger, Luiz, Alonso; Kante, Jorginho, Kovacic; Willian, Pedro, Hazard
MAN CITY STARTING XI: Ederson; Walker, Stones, Laporte, Delph; Bernardo, Fernandinho, Silva; Mahrez, Sane, Sterling
What a block! 🛡
Sterling dances past Alonso with ease and squares it to Sane, but his effort is blocked heroically by Azpilicueta! 💪
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Android: https://t.co/wrf2DWV8nW pic.twitter.com/joJfqwe7Yg— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) December 8, 2018
A long ball forward from Luiz this time bears fruit as Pedro gives it out for Willian, whose first touch initially looks to have seen the chance go begging. They recycle it, though, and Hazard plays a low ball into the box which Kante meets with a thumping finish into the roof of the net!
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The hosts were second best for pretty much all of that opening 45 minutes, yet they go in ahead courtesy of a sucker punch right on the stroke of half time. It wasn't the best half of football in truth, but Chelsea now have something to hang on to.
Luiz's long ball forward had initially released Chelsea upfield before Pedro and Willian combined, but it was Hazard who provided the killer pass and Kante to finished it emphatically.
Clear chances were few and far between for the visitors despite their control over the game, though, with Sterling squandering the best of them early on and Sane also being denied.
I would expect more of a cutting edge from the visitors in the second half, but they have work to do against an organised Chelsea side in the coming 45 minutes.
1 - Chelsea's goal came from their first shot of the match in the 45th minute (44:02), the longest they have had to wait for a shot in a league game at Stamford Bridge since 2006-07. Unlikely. #CHEMCI pic.twitter.com/7IpL1xCzpu— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) December 8, 2018
6 - Eden Hazard's assist for N'Golo Kante's goal was just one of six passes that Chelsea completed in the final third of the pitch versus Manchester City in the opening 45 minutes of this match (Man City completed 53). Snatched. pic.twitter.com/ofH9akNgx8— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) December 8, 2018
Luiz arrives late in the box and drifts towards the near post to meet a corner with a looping header which clips the underside of the crossbar on its way into the far corner!
David Luiz rises highest and doubles @ChelseaFC's lead! 🚀@ManCity have less than 10 minutes to turn this around...
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The hosts had to hang on for much of the first half, but Kante's goal right on the stroke of half time changed the game and Luiz's header 12 minutes from the end sealed a huge three points for Chelsea. The title race is blown wide open!
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Thank you very much for joining Sports Mole for today's match as Chelsea end Man City's unbeaten start with a memorable win at Stamford Bridge. I will leave you with our match report, and be sure to stick around for reaction too.
We also have live coverage of the final game in this bumper day of Premier League action for you, and you can follow every twist and turn of Leicester vs. Tottenham by clicking here.
From me, though, it is goodbye for now!
