PICK OF THE SPORT: Manchester City take on a flailing Chelsea for a spot at the top of the Premier League in a game you won’t want to miss, writes Dylan Bettencourt.
Although Chelsea is sitting in the bottom half of the Premier League table, fixtures between the Blues and Manchester City never disappoint.
Earlier in the season, the teams played out to a 4-4 draw at Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino and his side would gladly take a draw against City after only winning one of their last three league games.
Manchester City on the other hand have been in tremendous form, last suffering defeat on 6 December against Aston Villa.
Erling Haaland and Kevin de Bryune have both returned to the squad recently and have provided a huge boost for boss Pep Guardiola.
The game of the weekend between Manchester City and Chelsea takes place at 7.30pm on Saturday and will be live on DStv channel 203.
Liverpool kicks off the weekend against Brentford at 2.30pm on Saturday before Arsenal face Burnley at 5pm.
Tottenham will play Wolves at the same time while Manchester United will be in action on Sunday against Luton Town at 6.30pm.
➤ The United Rugby Championship reboots with a vengeance this weekend with a full eight matches starting on Friday night.
But the highlight for South African fans will be the two tantalising derbies played one after the other on Saturday afternoon.
➤ The Lions host the Bulls at Ellis Park — and they will probably face the strongest team the Bulls have fielded this year.
Jake White has previously complained about the seven-week compulsory rest that World Cup Springboks have to take, and will be excited about having Canan Moodie and Kurt-Lee Arendse available for selection at last.
Willie le Roux will be “on vacation” but superstar-in-the-making Devon Williams, who is now a full time Bulls team member, will presumably be selected at fullback.
Once again, the Lions will depend on Sanele Nohamba to bring the magic to his team.
While White has mentioned that they will have to contain him, Sanele operating around the base of the scrum is a very difficult guy to hold back.
➤ In Durban, the Sharks will have to play out of their skins to give the Stormers a game. Eben Etzebeth is still not available but that’s only part of a bigger problem for the men in black.
The Stormers, however, haven’t been that impressive, with many players displaying a big match temperament bordering on arrogance.
Even without players like Damian Willemse, Manie Libbok and Deon Fourie who are on the Springboks resting protocol, they still have an awesome set of players available.
Warrick Gelant, Suleiman Hartzenberg, Angelo Davids, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, among others will be awesome opponents. But they are going to have to remember that rugby is a team sport and not a showcase for individual talents.
It’s going to be a good afternoon for rugby.
Lions vs Bulls on Saturday at 3pm
Sharks vs Stormers on Saturday at 5pm
Both matches will be live on DStv channel 211
Pictured above: Chelsea taking on Manchester City.
Image source: X
