Chelsea and Man City set for Premier League title battle but clash could be settled by benches worth HALF A BILLION with almost 100 trophies between them

Two title contenders go head-to-head in a mouth-watering Premier League clash on Saturday.

Champions Manchester City travel to high-flying Chelsea in the pick of the weekend’s top-flight action – live on talkSPORT.

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Chelsea have been in superb form this season, winning four of their five matches and drawing once.

The European champions have conceded just one goal – a penalty in the 1-1 draw at Anfield – and have been scoring for fun with £97.5million man Romelu Lukaku back and banging them in at Stamford Bridge.

They come up against a Man City side who are out for revenge, though.

Pep Guardiola’s side were defeated in 1-0 in the Champions League final by Saturday’s opponents as they fell at the final hurdle, and they will want to get one over the west London club, who have won the last three outings between the teams.

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Some incredibly talented players will be on show, but there will also be stars on the bench who may not even get to grace the Stamford Bridge pitch, such is the quality of the two squads on show.

Undoubtedly boasting the two strongest squads in the league it might even be substitutes who make the differnce on Saturday in the huge title clash.

Thomas Tuchel will likely play a similar team to the one that earned a deserved point at Liverpool earlier this season when Reece James was sent off shortly before half-time of the 1-1 draw.

James, however, may well be on the bench for this match due to Cesar Azpilicueta’s defensive qualities and so the evergreen Thiago Silva can slot in at the back.

The Blues’ likely bench is littered with talent and they’ve got plenty of trophies amongst them.

Likely benches

Chelsea

• Kepa Arrizabalaga
• Timo Werner
• Hakim Ziyech
• Ben Chilwell
• Trevoh Chalobah
• Callum Hudson-Odoi
• Matteo Kovacic
• Reece James
• Saul Niguez

Man City

• Zack Steffen
• Aymeric Laporte
• Oleksandr Zinchenko
• Fernandinho
• Bernardo Silva
• Ferran Torres
• Raheem Sterling
• Phil Foden
• Nathan Ake

Guardiola also has a incredibly talented group of players and that means there will be some big names on the bench for City too.

Raheem Sterling and Phil Foden could both be substitutes for the match as the Spaniard continues to ease them in after their gruelling summer with England at Euro 2020.

The likely bench have all won plenty of trophies and all of them have a title to their name following their Premier League triumph last season.

Each side could name a superstar with a phenomenal amount of experience on the bench.

Either Matteo Kovacic or Kante will sit on the bench to facilitate Tuchel’s three attackers and we believe the Frenchman has too much quality to be ignored in such a big game.

Kovacic would be the most decorated player on Chelsea’s bench, having won a staggering 11 major trophies during his career, including four Champions Leagues.

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Major trophies won

Chelsea

• Kepa Arrizabalaga – 2
• Timo Werner – 1
• Hakim Ziyech – 3
• Ben Chilwell – 1
• Trevoh Chalobah – 0
• Callum Hudson-Odoi – 2
• Matteo Kovacic – 11
• Reece James – 1
• Saul Niguez – 2
  
  Total trophies – 23

Manchester City

• Zack Steffen – 3
• Aymeric Laporte – 7
• Oleksandr Zinchenko – 8
• Fernandinho – 23
• Bernardo Silva – 11
• Ferran Torres – 3
• Raheem Sterling – 8
• Phil Foden – 8
• Nathan Ake – 4
  
  Total trophies – 75

Three were with Real Madrid before he added another to his collection last summer with the Blues.

Trevoh Chalobah has featured the least for Chelsea and he is the only possible substitute without a major trophy to his name.

The UEFA Super Cup, where he starred in the penalty shootout victory over Villarreal in the season’s curtain-raiser, is on his record though.

Man City ace Fernandinho is set to be the most decorated player on the opposite bench, though, as the veteran midfielder has won a staggering 23 major trophies in his illustrious career, with some coming from his time with Shakhtar Donetsk.

He’s also won plenty in England, though, with four Premier League titles to his name, one FA Cup and four League Cups during his stint at the Etihad.

Overall, City’s bench have accumulated a staggering 75 major trophies, dwarfing Chelsea’s 23.

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And both benches will also have some expensive players on them.

Kepa cost the most as he was signed by Chelsea for a then club-record fee of £72m before that was smashed again this summer with the £97.5m signing of Lukaku.

Werner also cost a pretty penny at £47m, while Ziyech arrived for £36m and Chilwell cost £45m when they were all signed in 2020.

However, the Blues pride themselves on their academy and James, Chalobah, and Hudson-Odoi have all blossomed into key players for the club at the cost of nothing.

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Expensive benches

Chelsea

• Kepa Arrizabalaga – £72m
• Timo Werner – £47m
• Hakim Ziyech – £36m
• Ben Chilwell – £45m
• Trevoh Chalobah – Free
• Callum Hudson-Odoi – Free
• Matteo Kovacic – £40m
• Reece James – Free
• Saul Niguez – Loan

Total – £240m

Manchester City

• Zack Steffen – £6.1m
• Aymeric Laporte – £58m
• Oleksandr Zinchenko – £1.8m
• Fernandinho – £36m
• Bernardo Silva – £45m
• Ferran Torres – £20m
• Raheem Sterling – £57m
• Phil Foden – Free
• Nathan Ake – £40m

Total – £263m

City’s success hasn’t come about by luck, though.

They have spent close to a billion pounds since Guardiola took over and just like Chelsea’s, the players on the bench would walk into most teams in the Premier League.

Sterling is the most expensive player on the hypothetical bench, having been displaced by £100m summering signing Jack Grealish.

The England man joined City from Liverpool for £57m in 2015 and he could be joined by several other expensive players.

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Although, academy ace Phil Foden and bargain stars Zack Steffen and Oleksandr Zinchenko mean it’s only only set to beworth around £23m more than Chelsea’s.

So if the starting stars on show at Stamford Bridge on Saturday afternoon aren’t quite up to scratch, both Tuchel and Guardiola should easily be able to change the game.

And having seen Kante’s display for 45 minutes in the second half against Tottenham last weekend, it’s a match that really could be won in the battle of the benches.

You can listen to Chelsea vs Man Cityon Saturday, September 25, live on talkSPORT, at 12:30pm.