Man City vs Chelsea: Starting XIs, confirmed team news for Premier League clash

Calum McFarlane has named his Chelsea side to face Manchester City in the Premier League.

The Chelsea Under-21s boss leads the first-team for their opening game of 2026 following the departure of head coach Enzo Maresca earlier this week.

It has left Chelsea with little turnaround time for McFarlane and his staff to work with the players after being officially introduced before Friday's training session.

"I am quite relaxed," insisted McFarlane pre-match. " I am sure as we get closer to the game it will become more nerve-wracking. I haven't worked at this level before but the lads have been brilliant and we will do this together."

He added: "I wouldn't say we have nothing to lose. We have to give a real good account of ourselves."

Chelsea will be hoping to get back to winning ways after losing to Aston Villa and drawing to Bournemouth to close out the year. They have won just one of their last seven league games.

Man City head into Sunday's fixture as firm favourites. Pep Guardiola's side are hunting another league title as they look to retain their crown and fight off Arsenal.

Guardiola's side have a fine record against the visitors. They are unbeaten in their last eight league games against Chelsea (W6 D2), their joint-longest run without defeat against the Blues in their league history (also 8 between 1936 and 1949).

Here are the confirmed teams from the Etihad for the Premier League fixture between Man City and Chelsea.

Manchester City

Starting XI: Donnarumma, Nunes, Dias, Gvardiol, O'Reilly, Rodri, Bernardo (C), Reijnders, Foden, Cherki, Haaland

Bench: Trafford, Ake, Doku, Khusanov, McAidoo, Mukasa, Lewis, Mfuni, R. Heskey

Chelsea

Starting XI: Jorgensen, Acheampong, Chalobah, Badiashile, Gusto, James, Enzo, Estevao, Palmer, Neto, Joao Pedro

Bench: Slonina, Merrick, Tosin, Hato, Andrey Santos, Garnacho, Gittens, Delap, Guiu