Man City start tough run against Chelsea, Spurs aim to halt slide

Manchester City have no time to lick their wounds after another bruising Champions League defeat as Chelsea prepare to visit the Etihad, with both clubs battling for a top-four finish.

Nottingham Forest and Bournemouth, both looking to upset the established order by qualifying for next season’s Champions League, meet at the Vitality Stadium in an intriguing match-up between two in-form teams.

At the other end of the table, beleaguered Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou badly needs a win against relegation-threatened Leicester as he seeks to keep Spurs clear of danger.

AFP Sport looks at three talking points ahead of the weekend’s action:

City back to the drawing board
City’s 6-0 thrashing of Ipswich last weekend suggested they might have recovered their mojo but that optimism was swept away in a four-goal blitz from Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday to leave Pep Guardiola’s men on the brink of an embarrassing early exit in Europe.

A five-game unbeaten run in the Premier League has brought City back into the race for a top-four finish after a terrible run of results.

The English champions sit fifth and would leapfrog fourth-placed Chelsea with victory at the Etihad on Saturday.

However, their upturn coincided with a gentle run of fixtures and their collapse from 2-0 up to lose 4-2 at PSG showed the frailties that tougher opposition could expose.

City face Arsenal, Newcastle, Liverpool and Tottenham in their following four Premier League games.

The club’s slump, exacerbated by injuries, has forced them to be unusually active in the January transfer market.

Forward Omar Marmoush could make his debut on Saturday after sealing a £59 million ($72.6 million) move from Eintracht Frankfurt, while Abdukodir Khusanov and Vitor Reis will bolster