Manchester City skipper Vincent Kompany is hoping his Belgium team mate and Chelsea’s Eden Hazard develops a stomach bug and misses the match today.
Premier League champions Chelsea travel to City’s Etihad stadium for an eagerly-awaited clash against last season’s runners-up.
Kompany said: “You’d almost hope that Eden Hazard would have diarrhoea.
“Now let’s be serious. You can’t underestimate the impact he has on Chelsea. And then you’ll expect he would have a dip in his performance level. Last week, against Swansea, he maybe didn’t play his best first half, but when they were reduced to 10, he was the only one who was dangerous. Because he ran past three, four defenders.”
Hazard’s late injury against Swansea has led to a dispute between manager Jose Mourinho and his medical team – but he looks fully fit now.
Kompany added: “You can have as many tactical plans as you want, if Eden starts running, it is chaos. He’s at a level where he decides how good his team are.