Marc Cucurella makes Pep Guardiola admission ahead of Man City vs Chelsea fixture

Chelsea left-back Marc Cucurella has waxed lyrical about Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola ahead of Sunday's meeting between the two clubs at Stamford Bridge.

City will make the trip to the capital in pursuit of a sixth successive win in all competitions. They booked their place in the last-16 of the Champions League in midweek with a routine 3-0 win over BSC Young Boys at the Etihad Stadium.

The aim for the Blues now is to head into the upcoming international break top of the Premier League table. They are guaranteed to remain top of the pile with three points at Stamford Bridge, regardless of results elsewhere this weekend.

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City have had Chelsea's number over the past couple of years, winning each of the last six meetings between the two clubs, all without conceding a single goal. Guardiola has faced Chelsea 20 times as City manager, winning on 13 occasions.

And one man who will be aware of the threat City are likely to pose in west London is Cucurella, who, despite never working with Guardiola, benefited from his lasting legacy at Barcelona. The defender joined the club's academy in 2012, but despite that being the same year that Guardiola left, he believes the Catalan's influence during his time in charge left a platform for others to build from.

"He changed the mentality at Barcelona," Cucurella told Sky Sports. "Before Guardiola, Barcelona were a good team and when he came, they changed the philosophy, they played amazing football - I think one of the best teams in the history of football. They played at another level.

"The philosophy in the Barcelona academy changed