While Manchester City may be playing for little more than pride, the reigning champions' trip to Stamford Bridge could still have a huge bearing on the race for Champions League qualification.

You wouldn't know that Pep Guardiola's side are lacking any tangible incentive to finish the season strongly, with 3-0 and 5-0 wins over Arsenal and Burnley putting pay to any concerns they may take the return to action lightly.

Chelsea, meanwhile, will not only be hoping to reaffirm their position in fourth but could even close the gap to Leicester in third to just one point with a victory following a stuttering restart from the Foxes.

Ahead of what is undoubtedly the headline act of gameweek 31, we've picked out four more stats selections to build a whopping 66/1 Request A Bet courtesy of SkyBet to ponder pre-match.

Olivier Giroud to score anytime

Given the nod, as expected, ahead of Tammy Abraham for the Blues' first game back at Aston Villa on Sunday, Giroud's match-winner should see the Frenchman keep his place. There's little doubt the senior statesman was in stronger form pre-lockdown and he'll be keen to make what would be a rare start against this week's opponents on Thursday. Remarkably, the 33-year old hasn't lined up against City from the off in the league since 2016, despite scoring in each of his last three starts against them.

Gabriel Jesus to have 2+ shots on target

With Guardiola willing and able to rotate his squad with very little consequence when it comes to the quality of his side's play - as seen in the performance against Burnley on Monday - picking out individual player markets is undeniably a risk. 

However, following a knee injury to Sergio Aguero, Jesus is certainly well-placed to start and his record away from home this season has been superb. That said, the Brazilian - who also hasn't started in this fixture since his very first appearance in it in 2016 - has never scored against Chelsea, but his ability to pick up goalscoring positions rarely fails him. Despite starting just 54 per cent of the minutes available in the league, only Mo Salah has had more shots on target this season than Jesus (37), while no player has managed more on the road (23). An average of 2.7 shots on target per 90 away from home is sensational, mustering two or more in six of eight starts in the league.

Jorginho and Ilkay Gundogan to be carded

 

Two players who sat out of their side's last fixture altogether due to suspension and rotation respectively, both Jorginho and Gundogan are rarely overlooked in big matches such as this. The former is back available after a two-match ban having accumulated ten yellow cards already this season, and is rarely out of trouble in this fixture. In fact, the Italy international has been booked more times against City than any other English opponent, having done so in each of his last four competitive appearances when facing the holders.

It's a similar story for Gundogan, who has been booked seven times this season despite starting just 18 of City's 30 league matches thus far. He too tends to find himself in hot water in this particular match up too, having received a yellow card in three of his last four league appearances against Chelsea. Starting in just two of said outings, there's hope even if the German was to miss out on the XI!