Few tasks will be more difficult for a defense than facing Manchester City's attack. The Citizens may not be top of the Premier League table, but they are the league's top goalscorers after 16 games, and it's no surprise given Erling Haaland's 21 goals in his first 15 appearances.Chelsea did not face the Norwegian striker in their Carabao Cup match in November, but they still lost by two goals as both teams rotated. That is likely to happen again in the FA Cup, but Graham Potter will face a near-full-strength Manchester City on Thursday. Pep Guardiola has confirmed that Aymeric Laporte will undergo a late fitness test before Manchester City's Premier League match against Chelsea on Thursday.Due to a back problem, the Spanish international missed the draw with Everton.This could result in the departures of Rico Lewis and Nathan Ake, as well as Riyad Mahrez and Jack Grealish.Only Ruben Dias will miss the trip to London due to a hamstring injury.The Blues do not have a particularly poor defensive record, having conceded 18 times in 16 games, but their inability to score puts them under pressure. They have conceded twice as many goals as City in the league this season, but have scored less than half as many. At Stamford Bridge, perfection will be required.Chelsea's last match against the Premier League champions saw Potter deploy three central defenders, Trevoh Chalobah, Kalidou Koulibaly, and Marc Cucurella, with Lewis Hall and Ruben Loftus-Cheek on the flanks. However, Chelsea's manager appears to have made a concerted effort to switch to a back four since then, though he has yet to face the type of challenge that Manchester City will present.

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对于防守来说，没有什么任务比面对曼城的进攻更困难了。公民队可能不是英超积分榜的榜首，但在16场比赛后，他们是联赛进球最多的球队，考虑到埃林·哈兰德在前15场比赛中打进21球，这并不令人惊讶。切尔西在11月的卡拉宝杯比赛中没有遇到这位挪威前锋，但由于两队轮换，他们还是输了两球。这种情况很可能在足总杯中再次发生，但格雷厄姆·波特将在周四面对几乎全员的曼城。瓜迪奥拉已经确认，拉波特将在周四曼城对阵切尔西的比赛前接受体能测试。由于背部问题，西班牙国脚错过了与埃弗顿的平局。这可能会导致里科·刘易斯和内森·阿克，以及里亚德·马赫雷斯和杰克·格里利什的离开。只有鲁本·迪亚斯将因腿筋受伤缺席伦敦之行。蓝军并没有特别糟糕的防守记录，他们在16场比赛中丢了18次球，但他们无法进球让他们面临压力。本赛季他们在联赛中的失球是曼城的两倍，但进球数还不到曼城的一半。在斯坦福桥，完美是必须的。切尔西上一场对阵英超冠军的比赛中，波特部署了三名中卫，特雷沃·查洛巴、卡利杜·库利巴利和马克·库库雷拉，路易斯·霍尔和鲁本·洛夫图斯-奇克在两翼。然而，切尔西的主教练似乎从那时起就开始努力转向四后卫，尽管他还没有面对曼城所带来的那种挑战。