The Moroccan’s inclusion is one of five changes from our most recent outing, the 1-1 draw against Aston Villa at the start of the week, with Thiago Silva and Kurt Zouma both recalled at centre-back. Azpilicueta and Ben Chilwell make up the back four in front of Edouard Mendy.

Further forward, Timo Werner leads the attack supported by Ziyech and Christian Pulisic, while Mateo Kovacic replaces Jorginho in midfield.

Manchester City are without a few players due to Covid-19 positive test results so American Zack Steffen starts in goal in one of three changes from their last game. Oleksander Zinchenko and Phil Foden are the others to come into the side, replacing Nathan Ake and Ferran Torres.

Chelsea (4-3-3) Mendy; Azpilicueta (c), Thiago Silva, Zouma, Chilwell; Mount, Kante, Kovacic; Ziyech, Werner, Pulisic

Subs Arrizabalaga, Rudiger, Emerson, Jorginho, Gilmour, Havertz, Hudson-Odoi, Abraham, Giroud

Man City (4-3-3) Steffen; Cancelo, Stones, Dias, Zinchenko; Rodrigo, Gundogan, De Bruyne (c); Sterling, Silva, Foden

Subs Carson, Mendy, Mbete, Harwood-Bellis, Fernandinho, Mahrez, Aguero, Delap

The referee is Anthony Taylor.

Stats recap

Chelsea are going for a third successive home league win against Man City for the first time since 2006-2009, when we managed four in a row.

City’s last win at the Bridge was in September 2017 when Kevin De Bruyne scored the only goal of the game for the visitors.

The Citizens have lost more Premier League games against Chelsea (26) than they have against any other side in the competition.

Our most recent meeting was in June – it was our first ever competitive match at Stamford Bridge behind closed doors.

Chelsea are unbeaten in seven Premier League home games (four wins, three draws), scoring 18 goals in that run. We have only lost one home league game in 14 (10 wins).

In all competitions we are unbeaten at Stamford Bridge in 11 matches, since our defeat to Liverpool on 20 September (six wins, five draws).

If selected, Cesar Azpilicueta will make his 400th appearance for the club. He will join 12 other Chelsea players to reach that landmark, and will become only the second overseas player, after Petr Cech, to do so.