In one of the biggest matches of the young Premier League season, champions Manchester City will be going to Stanford Bridge to meet European champions, Chelsea. This is going to be a tone-setting game since the result could give us some early favorites for the title. Chelsea has a near-perfect record, except a draw against Liverpool, while City struggled against Southampton last week and has three points less than the London team.

Of course, this game will not determine the champion outright. Most championships are won through the small games, with inferior opponents, where it is expected that teams like City or Chelsea dominate. Still, it will be an incredibly fun game to watch. Here are three things to look out for during the match!

Chelsea-Manchester City Predictions

In a rare occurrence, a Pep Guardiola team will be overrun in the midfield

When Guardiola is mentioned, most people spring right into the prime Barcelona team, with a midfield of Busquets, Xavi, and Iniesta. Thus, in most minds, the automatic assumption is that Guardiola brings midfield domination. That is somewhat true, as all of the teams he managed had formidable midfields, ready to completely control the game. However, if that is expected out of the game on Saturday, people might be in for a surprise.

While City boasts Kevin De Bruyne, Ilkay Gundogan and Fernandinho or Rodri, Chelsea has the best midfield in the world. After Real Madrid took that title from Barcelona, with Modric, Kroos, and Casemiro, the mantle is now in London. The way N'golo Kante, Jorginho and Mateo Kovacic simply dominate the opponent is mesmerizing to watch. What is even more fascinating is how coach Thomas Tuchel can bring the absolute best out of every one of them.

Kovacic is a box-to-box midfielder who has the ability to break through opposition lines, Kante is a workhorse of the midfield while Jorginho is an elegant playmaker who pulls all the strings. Three seemingly different players whose strengths overlap, and they work together like they have been playing for decades. It will take a monumentally great team to even challenge the midfield against this Chelsea squad, and all the signs from the start of the season point that it is not City.

How much will the coaches rotate?

Slowly, but surely, the top teams in England and around Europe are getting stuck into the season. That means that certain rotations are needed since the usual schedule is two games per week. Both of these teams have incredible squad depth, but that does not mean that the best elevens necessarily will be seeing the pitch on Saturday.

Guardiola went into the cup game during the week with De Bruyne, Mahrez, Ferran Torres, Phil Foden, and Raheem Sterling starting. On the other hand, Tuchel went with Kante as the only player from the first eleven on Wednesday. Of course, other big names are also starting, but they are mostly from the bench, like Timo Werner and Hakim Ziyech to name a couple.

The strength of squad depth is not really going to show until the middle of the season, where the hectic EPL schedule kicks in. However, just to think that Chelsea can have a very strong squad out in the middle of the week, with one player that is a starter week-in, week-out, shows how Tuchel will have the freedom to rotate. It is possible that Guardiola will be forced to make some changes, but Chelsea should have their strongest squad out on Saturday.

It will be a close, tight game

While it will be a fun game, due to all the quality on the field, it is possible that there will not be a lot of goals in the back of both nets. It is possible, due to their midfield, that Chelsea will dominate possession and make City play counter-attacking football. Guardiola is known as an attacking coach, of course, but he has shown he can adjust and he will need to, to win this game.

Chelsea, on the other hand, will face a great City defense that only conceded one goal all season long. Ruben Dias continued his amazing form from last season and it seems like he has a great connection with John Stones in the middle of the City defense. When the world-class keeper Ederson is added to the mix, City will be a great defensive team again.

Chelsea also conceded only one goal this year, but that will be a trend due to the strength of their squad. A lot of teams will go for a low defensive block against them and leave Chelsea to dominate possession. With those players in the middle of the park, Chelsea keeps the ball for a very long time and it is difficult to score when the ball is constantly in Chelsea's legs. However, if there are any mistakes, City's wingers are very fast and will be able to counter quickly.