MANCHESTER: Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini believes ending Chelsea's 100% Premier League record would mean his side had made a decent start to their defence of the English title.
City haven't won since overwhelming Liverpool, last season's runners-up, 3-1 on August Bank Holiday Monday with what looked at the time a benchmark performance.
Since then, they have lost at home to Stoke, drawn at Arsenal and lost to a last-minute goal at Bayern Munich in the Champions League in midweek.
"I always try to think of positives,” said Pellegrini. “So I hope we aren’t going to lose and go eight points behind Chelsea.
"We must win our next game at home, and with that, we will be two points behind the leader. That will be a very good start after playing Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea."
City will again be without the injured pair of Fernando and Stevan Jovetic, but former Chelsea favourite Frank Lampard will be included in the squad to face the club where he spent 13 years and was their highest goal-scorer.
On the other hand, Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho believes there is still room for improvement from his side, despite their impressive start to the season.
While the opening five games have produced 16 goals for the Blues, they have also shipped seven goals, which indicates there are defensive weaknesses for the manager to address.
"You try and improve in every aspect," said Mourinho. "The perfect situation is to score a lot of goals and not concede. We have to chase that perfection.
"We are happy with what we're doing, but it's September. We have to try and improve all the time."
In another match, Manchester United will travel to Leicester City on the back of a 4-0 win over Queens Park Rangers last weekend.
Sunday's fixtures
Leicester v Man United
Tottenham v West Brom
Everton v Palace
Man City v Chelsea
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