Manchester City and Chelsea have played out an enjoyable rivalry in recent seasons, both in the Premier League and in European competition.
The 2023/24 season saw two draws between these sides, the second a 1-1 stalemate at the Etihad Stadium after the clash at Stamford Bridge had ended in a gripping 4-4 draw.
During Pep Guardiola’s early years at City, Mauricio Pochettino proved to be one of his most worthy adversaries in the dugout, with his Tottenham side dramatically knocking City out of the 2018/19 Champions League. Now, however, it’s Enzo Maresca — Guardiola’s former City assistant — who is trying to fashion something cohesive from a youthful, gifted and expensively assembled Chelsea squad amassed in a hurry under Todd Boehly’s ownership.
Yet it was the heavy investment of the Roman Abramovich era at Stamford Bridge that propelled Chelsea to the forefront of the English game, while City’s own mega-rich owners have bankrolled an imperial period. This is very much a rivalry that reflects modern football, even if Chelsea have struggled to match City on the pitch since winning the 2021 UEFA Champions League final in Porto.
Here, The Sporting News looks at a rivalry that stretches back decades but has come more sharply into focus over recent years.
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Chelsea vs Man City head-to-head record, all-time results
Chelsea have the edge in the historical head-to-head, although Man City have closed that up with a dominant run over recent domestic fixtures.
The Londoners’ most recent win came in the most significant of the combined 175 meetings with City, when Kai Havertz scored the only goal in the 2021 Champions League final.
That wasn’t the first time the Blues had halted a much-fancied City on the European stage. Holders City were beaten 2-1 on aggregate in the semifinals of the European Cup Winners’ Cup in 1970/71.
Before November 12, the latest of the teams’ 41 draws ended with City lifting silverware. A goalless stalemate in the 2019 Carabao Cup final was decided on penalties, with current Chelsea man Sterling dispatching the decisive spot-kick into the top corner.
Chelsea vs. Man City all-time results (all competitions)
| Games | Chelsea wins |
Man City wins |
Draws |
|---|---|---|---|
| 178 | 71 | 65 | 42 |
#OnThisDay in 2019, #ManCity won the @Carabao_Cup (again). ✌️🏆pic.twitter.com/uSl6q1975X
— City Xtra (@City_Xtra) February 24, 2021
Chelsea vs Man City recent results
After suffering heartbreak in Porto, City won six in a row without conceding a goal, including four wins across three competitions last season. That ended with the gripping encounter in November 2023.
Last 10 matches between Chelsea and Man City
| Competition | Date | Location | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Premier League | Aug. 18, 2024 | Stamford Bridge | Chelsea 0-2 Man City |
| Premier League | Feb. 17, 2024 | Etihad Stadium | Man City 1-1 Chelsea |
| Premier League | Nov. 12, 2023 | Stamford Bridge | Chelsea 4-4 Man City |
| Premier League | May. 21, 2023 | Etihad Stadium | Man City 1-0 Chelsea |
| FA Cup | Jan. 8, 2023 | Etihad Stadium | Man City 4-0 Chelsea |
| Premier League | Jan. 5, 2023 | Stamford Bridge | Chelsea 0-1 Man City |
| Carabao Cup | Nov. 09, 2022 | Etihad Stadium | Man City 2-0 Chelsea |
| Premier League | Jan. 15, 2022 | Etihad Stadium | Man City 1-0 Chelsea |
| Premier League | Sep. 25, 2021 | Stamford Bridge | Chelsea 0-1 Man City |
| Champions League | May 29, 2021 | Estadio do Dragao | Chelsea 1-0 Man City |
| Premier League | May. 8, 2021 | Etihad Stadium | Man City 1-2 Chelsea |
Do Chelsea and Man City have a rivalry?
Chelsea are the only club other than City to have won multiple Premier League titles since Sir Alex Ferguson left Manchester United in 2013.
Jose Mourinho lifted his third Premier League in his second stint at Chelsea when the Blues dethroned Manuel Pellegrini’s City in 2014/15. Two years later, despite Guardiola arriving in English football to much fanfare, another newcomer took the crown.
Both of Chelsea’s Premier League wins over City en route to glory under Antonio Conte were tempestuous affairs. Guardiola’s side finished a 3-1 defeat at the Etihad Stadium with nine men after Fernandinho and Sergio Aguero were sent off, while there was a post-match fracas in the Stamford Bridge tunnel after a 2-1 Chelsea success.
Chelsea defeat Man City 3-1 at the Etihad and win the 8th of 13 matches in a row – thanks to a brilliant counter-attacking display with goals from Diego Costa, Willian and Eden Hazard – which culminates in chaotic fashion as Aguero and Fernandinho see red, December 3, 2016. #CFC pic.twitter.com/hojkAJho16
— Classic Chels (@ClassicChels) March 27, 2020
An era-defining rivalry appeared to be simmering, but City were utterly dominant as they claimed the title with a record 100-point haul next time around and Conte departed Stamford Bridge amid the familiar spectacle of strained relations with his bosses.
Chelsea’s chaotic trajectory since then means the clubs have not spent too much time in one another’s orbit. The exception was the early months of Thomas Tuchel’s Chelsea reign, where he appeared to have Guardiola’s number.
The 2021 Champions League final was the third of three victories against City across three competitions over the course of six weeks. Guardiola responded authoritatively, with each 1-0 win in the 2021/22 season far more emphatic than the scorelines suggested.
That looked like an intriguing joust with plenty of road left to run until Tuchel was heavily backed in the transfer market and then fired by Boehly. From that point, the two clubs could hardly have experienced more contrasting 2022/23 campaigns: City won a historic treble, and Chelsea endured arguably their worst season in living memory.
In 2023/24, City once again reigned supreme in England, becoming the first side to win four consecutive top-flight titles. Chelsea endured a rocky start under former Spurs boss Pochettino but seemed to be finding their feet in the second half of the season: they reached the final of the EFL Cup, losing to Liverpool in extra time, and they qualified for the Europa Conference League after finishing sixth in the table, winning their last five games of the season in a row.
It was not enough to convince the ownership group, though, and Pochettino was replaced by Maresca, who had masterminded Leicester City’s promotion bid.
