Manchester City-Chelsea Preview

Feb 25, 2010 - 5:57 PM NEIL RICHARDS STATS European Football Writer=

LONDON (SE) - Former England team-mates Wayne Bridge and John Terry could come face-to-face at Stamford Bridge just two days after the Manchester City left-back quit the national side following media coverage of an alleged affair between the Chelsea captain and Bridge's ex-girlfriend.

With England boss Fabio Capello set to name his squad for the friendly with Egypt at the weekend, Bridge made himself unavailable, thereby sacrificing the chance to play in this summer's World Cup finals in the process.

Bridge said: "It has always been an honour to play for England. However, after careful thought I believe my position in the squad is now untenable and potentially divisive.

"Sadly therefore I feel for the sake of the team and in order to avoid what will be inevitable distractions, I have decided not to put myself forward for selection."

The prospect of Terry and Bridge being on opposing sides on Saturday forms an intriguing sub-plot as Chelsea look to extend their lead back at the top of the Premier League to four points with Manchester United playing in the League Cup final on Sunday.

They will have to do so, however, without goalkeeper Petr Cech. The Czech Republic international suffered a major injury scare as Chelsea lost 2-1 to Inter Milan and former boss Jose Mourinho in the Champions League on Wednesday night.

At first the club thought Cech had ruptured knee ligaments and was out for the season, so a secondary diagnosis of a calf injury was something of a relief, even though he could still be sidelined for several weeks pending the results of a scan.

When asked how long his goalkeeper could be out for, Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti said: "We don't know now. We have to wait some days.

"We have to do a check on his calf. We will take a decision and we will know how long he has to stay out."

If Chelsea's fortunes took a dip in midweek, things have turned decidedly gloomy for Manchester City. Roberto Mancini's side were roundly criticised for their lack of attacking ambition last Sunday as they played out a goalless draw with rivals Liverpool in what was widely regarded as one of the dullest games of the season.

Then on Wednesday City crashed out of the only competition they still had a chance of winning this season, beaten 3-1 by Stoke City in a FA Cup fifth-round replay after extra time.

Emmanuel Adebayor was sent off for lashing out at Ryan Shawcross in that match and now serves a three-match ban for violent conduct.

The Togo striker's place should go to Carlos Tevez, who is scheduled to return this week having been given compassionate leave to return home to Argentina to be with his wife after complications with the recent birth of his daughter.

"We want him back for Chelsea on Saturday and he told me that he has been training every day while he has been back in Argentina," Mancini told the official City website.

City have won just two of their last eight games, but Mancini denied he felt under pressure after the Stoke defeat.

He added: "No, no, absolutely not. I'm disappointed because we lost. We had a good chance to go to the next round and the final, but this is football, we must improve.

"We must focus on the Chelsea match because if we want to finish in the top four we must pick up as many points as we can."

City are looking to do the double over Chelsea for the first time since the 1957-8 season, Tevez having scored the winner as City won 2-1 at the City of Manchester Stadium on December 5, ending a run of eight straight defeats to Chelsea in the Premier League.

That victory was the first time in 21 matches that City had scored more than one goal against the Londoners and in 13 of the last 15 league meetings between the sides the Blues have kept a clean sheet.